Nielsen Associates Blog

Can a search firm make you agile?

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 07:19:14 GMT

Here are five growing pains

we can help with.

Search firms are built for challenges, including growth periods.

Everyone thinks of search firms when they want help managing a job opening, but there are so many different growing pains that we can address for companies.

Here are some scenarios we can help you navigate:

This article was published in the January 31, 2025 edition of the HIA-LI Reporter . Read it here.

#1 - When there isn't an internal successor.

Sometimes there isn’t someone waiting on the bench to fill a high-priority vacancy. Often in this scenario, enlisting the help of a recruiter is a strategic decision. It’s an opportunity to scope leadership roles that are more future-focused, confidentially, if desired. Companies decide to bring in greater depth, more skills, experience, and diversity, from the top down. So, they partner with a search firm to prioritize what they are looking for and start the interview process fast.

#2 - When you're implementing anything new involving people.

Ideally, big implementations are a milestone for companies, and a prime opportunity for internal team building. But it’s a different story when workers are at max capacity, trying to manage it all. Burnout can take hold, which wreaks havoc on productivity and wellbeing. When you need to increase your bandwidth during implementations, search firms can help you find contractors who can work for the duration of any project. It’s an on-demand way to increase your team’s capacity, leverage specific skills, and make smoother transitions.

#3 - When there's a crisis to manage.

Talent agencies can help you ramp up fast when you need to respond during a crisis. Agencies who specialize in Human Resources can connect you with contractors who handle all aspects of internal crisis management and communication. Contractors can work onsite or remotely whether you’re looking to increase HR presence, be more responsive, or handle media inquiries, for example.

#4 - When your business is expanding.

If market expansion or mergers and acquisitions are on the horizon, form a relationship with a search firm who understands the local employment market and beyond. Try to work with a firm who can do local, remote, and nationwide placements—and then collaborate with recruiters who already understand your culture, who can help you build in new regions.

#5 - When you have a long-term skill strategy.

Companies who define a core set of skills that they want to attract for the long-term can partner with search firms to find highly qualified candidates. It’s one way to “constantly listen” for qualified people who have what it takes to make an impact at your company.

Choosing a Recruiting Firm:

Look for firms who specialize and take a collaborative approach. Experienced search firms nurture an ecosystem – or pipeline- of hiring managers and qualified professionals, all who are at varying stages of their career. Specialization and a deep pipeline allow recruiters to move fast when you need any of the talent solutions described here. Firms who work hard to understand your business needs and culture on an ongoing basis can be so much more responsive when a need arises. Make the time to build strong relationships up front, so that when you need us, we’re a phone call away! Explore the possibilities with a free consultation. It's 100% confidential, risk-free, and there's no obligation.

 About Nielsen Associates:

For more than 35 years, Renee Nielsen and her team of recruiters have been connecting qualified professionals and executives with fulfilling career opportunities on Long Island, NY and across the nation. They are the go-to solution if you want to make hiring decisions that are faster, less stressful and more strategic. Renee’s team goes beyond the basics to find business leaders who have the skills and experience to thrive in the modern workplace. They specialize in finding the most capable and progressive talent in Human Resources , Sales, Marketing , Finance, Accounting , and Supply Chain . You can learn more about their services and request a complimentary consultation here.

Nielsen Associates Celebrates 36 Years

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:08:02 GMT

It couldn't be a better time to learn more about our services!

Today we are officially celebrating 36 years in business, and I am so #grateful to everyone who has utilized and referred our services throughout the years.

And a special thank you goes out to our exceptional recruiters, who help us fill some of the most challenging roles. We couldn’t do this without their unique perspectives and collaborative strategies. I learn from you all the time. I am thankful, grateful, and blessed that you all chose me to work with.

If you haven’t tried our services yet, it couldn’t be a better time to learn more. To celebrate our milestone anniversary, I’m excited to offer new clients 10% off the first placement in the discipline we specialize in.

Here's the link where you can get started: https://www.nielsenstaffing.com/free-consultation

Our success comes from building strong relationships, staying connected with our clients and supporting and encouraging job seekers.

Here's to many more years of sustainable success!

With gratitude,

Renée

Wellbeing Makes it to the Boardroom

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Wed, 15 May 2024 00:01:59 GMT

Change is stressful.

Especially when it’s fast-paced, unprecedented, and you didn’t see it coming in your crystal ball. Many offices are still in flux since the pandemic. There are businesses strategizing to bring workers back to the office, and businesses doing the opposite.

Note: This blog was originally published on October 27, 2022 and has since been updated. We periodically review references, statistics and relevance.

Perhaps that’s why wellbeing initiatives are finally taking up space on the executive agenda, when only a few years ago it was something “extra” for benefits administrators to think about. After a heaping serving of change; executive teams who are balancing between flexibility and tradition now have go-foward decisions to make that will define company values and culture for the long-term.

The corporate wellbeing industry is booming, but…

The global corporate wellness market size was valued at 53 billion in 2022 according to Grandview Research . There are vendors and platforms who specialize in everything - from crisis counseling to diet and nutrition - on cloud platforms that are ready to plug in. Companies are able to leverage the wellness programs from their insurance carriers and supplement them. It’s easier than ever to design a wellness strategy that’s completely custom, industry appropriate, and relevant to employees.

But here’s what’s surprising: even with accessible wellness programs, U.S. and Canadian workers are some of the most stressed employees in the world, according to Gallup.

In their latest State of the Global Workplace report, 50% of employees said they experienced a lot of stress the previous day. This is the second year in a row worker stress reached record levels. According to Gallup, employee stress has been rising for over a decade. 58% of Global workers are struggling in life, according to Gallup's wellbeing indicators .

Workers are aware that they’re more stressed; and they’re using their voices to speak up. According to Deloitte , 80% of workers said wellbeing is important or very important to their organization’s success.

58%

of Global workers are struggling in life,

according to Gallup .

Results May Vary

Business leaders who want to achieve desired outcomes need to repair the disconnect. Even when you offer a robust well-being program, accountability is crucial. There are many ways to build it in— from executive sponsorship and manager training, to utilization incentives for employees.

PwC made post-pandemic headlines by offering a $250 vacation bonus to employees who take 40 consecutive hours of vacation at a time, up to once per quarter, for a total $1,000 yearly vacation bonus. Teams at PwC also include wellness objectives in performance goals, which means they’re literally being paid to prioritize their health and wellbeing at work.

A Holistic Approach is Best

Companies who are seeing results are doing more to care for their people. They’re going beyond traditional health and dental coverage with comprehensive wellness strategies that encompass ALL aspects of wellness. Employees want to feel safe, healthy, stable, focused on what matters, AND productive. Here’s an example of a Holistic Well-Being framework from Josh Bersin’s Definitive Guide to Employee Experience:

Safety and Security in All Aspects of Work

Creating a safe work environment is essential for wellbeing, and it’s also an important part of mitigating risk. In a digital world, safety is a cross-functional effort; from OSHA compliance and physical security, to personal data and legal protection.

Personal Fitness & Physical

Health Support

On top of offering comprehensive healthcare, dental, vision, and prescription coverage, companies are helping employees manage health proactively. There are a range of ways to encourage team members to live healthy, active lives - from self-paced educational programs, to fitness club access, to onsite yoga and health fairs.

Family & Financial Support

Organizations are doing more than providing medical and dental insurance to dependents. They’re offering support to employees who are care takers — from affordable child care to long term care insurance for elderly parents. To increase reach and impact, companies with digital wellbeing platforms are giving open access to support employee family members. Companies are thinking beyond equitable pay to cultivate financial wellness too, with innovative programs to help employees access wages instantly, reduce debt, and plan for major life events and retirement.

Psychological & Emotional Support

In order to do your best, you need to feel your best; and companies are finally making the connection. They’re designing workflows and business processes with worker wellbeing in mind. This includes automating manual tasks so workers have more time to focus on goals that are more meaningful and fulfilling. Companies are also reducing workplace stress by placing a high value on mindfulness, removing stigmas around mental health, and providing access to on-demand counseling, self-awareness training, stress-reduction programs, employee assistance hotlines, and conflict remediation.

Is Wellbeing a Leadership Skill?

According to Jim Harter, Gallup’s chief workplace scientist, managers play the biggest role in actually helping improve worker well-being throughout all levels of an organization.

“The most important thing employers can do is to equip managers to have the right kinds of conversations with people,” Harter says.

This means hiring human-centered leaders , and upskilling managers to facilitate meaningful and ongoing conversations.

People leaders should pay attention to the individual needs of employees, listen deeply, and acknowledge personal and professional challenges when they arise. And they need to be fluent in the company’s wellbeing offerings, so that they can direct employees to the appropriate resources whenever there’s a need.

Build your Leadership Team with Nielsen Associates

For over 20 years, Nielsen Associates has built, developed and nurtured a network of talented professionals and business leaders. We can quickly present the most progressive, capable, trustworthy candidates in the Human Resources , Marketing , and Finance industries. Request a free consultation with our team of specialized recruiters to learn more about our services.

Executive Spotlight: Renée Nielsen

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 20:28:51 GMT

"Recruiting is about thinking. It’s about not only getting the right person for the role, but getting the right role for a person."

Renée Nielsen

President & CEO

LB: In 5 years, so much has changed, so fast. How has your business evolved? Have client and candidate expectations changed?

Renée:

My role is much more strategic now. Previously I was overseeing operations, and filling key positions for our firm. I wore many hats. Now I act in an advisory capacity to our executive recruiters. I focus more on sharing knowledge about recruiting trends. I look for ways to be efficient, and how to support my team. I encourage them to enjoy life and family because we don't get time back.

Our group is now all remote. I preferred hybrid they preferred remote, so the majority ruled. We meet 3 days a week on Microsoft Teams, and speak individually almost daily to ask for advice, brainstorm and check in to see how the day is going. Sometimes we need encouragement, sometimes we need to vent. I learn from my team all the time. Some of our executive recruiters transitioned from corporate HR, and they share their perspective from the corporate side with me.

I always say recruiting is about thinking. And I am always thinking about the larger market. I study the competitive landscape, look for trends, and support companies by sharing where they can recruit for specific positions.

There are more openings than there are candidates. Candidates now will only consider a hybrid role; where in the past it was a luxury and now it's considered the norm. The demand is intense. Clients always struggled with recruiting in a shrinking workforce (10,000 people are turning 65 daily.) That is still accurate; but the focus now is on retention through engagement.

One thing that has remained constant is our focus on building partnerships. We are fortunate in that we all work hard at something we love to do. We have been passionate about recruiting for many years, maintaining relationships with people from when they began their careers to the executives they are now. We went from placing at the managers level to now recruiting at the VP and C-level , all through referrals. It’s all about relationships.

LB: How often does culture come up during the hiring process? Are today’s job seekers savvy enough to make it part of the discussion upfront? Tell us why culture is so important and why people should talk about culture during the hiring process.

Renée:

Candidates don't ask about culture that often. They mostly ask about remote and hybrid flexibility, which isn't really culture, it's scheduling. At the senior level, they are asking to meet the executive team so they can make their own determination and get a feel about the organization and see how the team works together. Here’s what they want to know:

Does the team get along?
Are they supportive of one another?
Are they transparent on how they make decisions?
Do they all have the same vision for how to achieve growth, and what changes are needed to make it a reality?

For executive-level talent, in many cases these are crucial cultural factors that determine whether or not they'll accept an offer.

LB: You must see a lot of job descriptions. Why are they so important for companies to get right? Do you think most companies maintain up-to-date requirements for each position?

Renée:

Having the requirements wrong wastes time and makes a bad impression.

When you show up for an interview and discover that the required skills are obsolete or not comprehensive, it’s frustrating for the candidate and for the recruiter who’s working on the job placement.

You can lose an exceptional candidate when you make a mistake like this in the early stages of engaging with a prospect.

The job description helps us better qualify a candidate during pre-screening and interviews. And once a hire has been made, accurate job descriptions help companies set individual performance objectives, evaluate job performance, and measure success.

LB: What are companies and candidates doing to address skills gaps? Are there specific skills where demand has increased? What’s important now?

Renée:

Employers and employees recognize that work is becoming digital first. Working remotely requires different skills. You have to be more tech savvy .

When everyone isn’t under the same roof at the same time, leaders need different engagement strategies and different methods to build trust and accountability. They need to think more deliberately about how to work as a team. Communication is even more important. I like to think of how people will receive my messages. Words and phrasing can make people defensive when everything we consume is fast and digital.

Analytical skills, and the ability to make data-driven decisions continues to be in demand.

LB: What advice can you offer companies who are struggling to retain key employees?

Renée:

Find out what your employees want and address their concerns. You can do it through engagement surveys, and then probe for deeper insight. Listen; let them know you hear them; and be kind.

LB: What advice can you offer job-seekers who are struggling to find exactly what they want?

Renée:

Candidates should think about what they really want, the must haves, and the non-negotiables. Sometimes job-seekers think something isn’t important until the time comes and there’s an offer on the table. It’s about pursuing your ideal situation, finding work that’s meaningful to you, and your personal productivity targets. To help candidates heighten their own self-awareness, we have a career vision board in the works. It’s in development and coming soon.

LB: What’s it like to work with your team? How do you pinpoint business needs and build relationships with client companies? Why should companies partner with you?

Ren ée:

I have always believed in the law of reciprocity and that’s the philosophy on our team. It’s not an easy concept when you come from another search firm. It takes trust to believe that what we give to each other will come back, but it comes back tenfold. The vibe is generosity and always wanting the best for each other. I am thankful, grateful and blessed that our staff chooses me to work with.

Companies should partner with Nielsen Associates because we understand business. Over the years, we have worked with so many companies and our contacts go back decades.

We are consultive. I think curiosity is how we build such strong relationships. We ask a lot of questions and we really listen. When we hear a business challenge, we share our expertise. When we know how a similar company solved a specific challenge, we recommend solutions that may be new to our clients.

They should also work with Nielsen Associates because we CARE. All of us do. It’s about not only getting the right person for the role but getting the right role for a person.

LB: What’s on the horizon for Nielsen Associates? Are there trends or strategies you’re keeping an eye on?

Renée:

We always keep our eyes on the future and what roles will be in demand. Since COVID, the demand for HR executives has exploded. We’re being contacted to do national human resources searches, so I think that will continue. Another area of significant growth is marketing . Marketing kept companies in front of customers during COVID; its value has been emphasized. And there will always be a need for accounting & finance experts who have the integrity and technical chops to grow their organizations. Supply chain is an area where we may increase our focus.

LB: What’s the best way to learn more about your services?

Renée:

Call and have a conversation with us. There is no obligation; it's a discovery process; and I love talking with business leaders. I want to hear about what you would change if you could now or in the future. It’s a proactive step that you can take today, even if there isn’t an immediate opening to fill.

In many companies, the workforce is aging. There will be a time when there is a critical job opening that you need to fill fast. If you form a relationship with us early, you’ll feel comfortable calling us; you’ll know what our process is; and we’ll be ready to launch a search on your behalf.

Make the connection early. And if you still need convincing, here's 10 reasons to partner with a search firm .

We find

exceptional talent

for growing teams.

8 Ways to Enhance Recruiting

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 09:32:01 GMT

Every company is unique; so there's no 'one-sized-fits-all' approach. But these strategies deliver results.

#1 | Hone your culture & employer brand.

Get crystal clear on your culture ; and be devoted to nurturing it every day. Start by asking yourself culture questions from the candidate’s point of view. What’s it really like to work here? This seems like a simple question, but you should cover all bases when discussing opportunities with potential hires:

company culture
compensation and earning opportunities
health and time-off benefits packages
wellness programs
flexible work arrangements
caregiver and childcare benefits
perks, partnerships, and discounts
internal mobility, stability, recognition, career development and performance management
goals, mission, vision, and values, and why they are important to your success

Make it future-proof.

Ask yourself what’s constant about your company culture, regardless of location.

As teams become remote, company culture is less about location-specific amenities, and more an indicator of the values, philosophies, and management strategies

at your company.

Showcase company culture with targeted presentations during recruiting, so that who you are and what you have to offer resonates with the talent who you want to attract. What’s important to the candidates you want to hire? Why would they want to work here? For example, with millennial candidates, you might highlight that you offer career development or mentoring. To appeal to females, you might showcase key contributions made by women on your leadership team.

#2 | Put engagement and retention at the center of everything.

Design everything so your team knows they work for a company where their career goals matter; their voice matters; and there are resources dedicated to their professional growth and mobility. Nurture career growth during all phases of employee tenure. Begin with formal onboarding programs that help new hires assimilate quickly. Put ongoing engagement strategies in place that give employees a sense of ownership of their work, and recognize and reward a job well done. And offer professional career development and leadership continuity programs to prepare your team for increases in responsibility and compensation.

70%

of employees with a structured onboarding program remain at a company for at least 3 years.

#3 | Invest in your recruiters.

Immerse in-house recruiters in relevant industry trends and recruiting technologies by offering continuous professional development. Go for a blend that includes training and education, professional certifications, memberships and affiliations, and professional networking groups. Form strong connections with external recruiting agencies like Nielsen Associates for additional perspectives, industry expertise, and to expand your network of talent.

#4 | Always be agile

Agility doesn't have to be a "drop-everything-and-react" experience. Take a more predictive approach by anticipating seasonal spikes in demand, market conditions, and internal changes in resource allocation and headcount. Optimize recruiting channels that yield the best results by comparing key metrics such as cost, quality, and time to hire. Partner with recruiting firms when you need to move fast, conduct a confidential search , or when there’s a challenging position that’s hard to fill without an internal successor.

#5 | Focus on skillsets.

Hire core skills that are not industry-specific; but are important to the success of your company today and in the future; such as emotional intelligence , communication skills, integrity, relationship management, and agility. Keep the focus on transferable skills, comparable experience, and trainability.

Unlike technical skills or industry knowledge (which can be trained), transferable skills are competencies that show someone’s versatility, adaptability, growth potential and leadership ability.

#6 | Keep stakeholders engaged.

Brush away the fears of pestering people, because everyone likes to be informed. Keep all stakeholders involved with regular, frequent communication. Share news, get feedback and ask for input. Ask yourself if your communication strategy needs to be more inclusive. Do you really have the right stakeholders? Who will interface with the new team member and work closely with them? Getting a 360 degree view (especially during requirements gathering and job design ) will help you identify the skills and traits required to exceed performance expectations and strengthen the team.

#7 | Harness the power of technology.

What's missing from your recruiting technology suite? For example, AI-powered tools to help you design inclusive, gender-neutral job descriptions. And pre-employment assessments help you make data-driven, bias-free decisions, prior to in-depth interviews. Partner with IT colleagues and explore solutions together.

# 8 | Adopt inclusive recruiting strategies.

Make sure everyone at your company who is directly involved in hiring is educated on diversity and inclusion. This includes not only HR and recruiters - but executives, hiring managers, and key collaborators during the hiring process. They should know how to detect hiring bias and have the tools and resources to correct it. Whenever there's an opening, widen your search parameters, and assemble diverse screening panels to get many perspectives when making hiring decisions.

What's in your tech stack?

Tools like Textio use AI to help you create inclusive, gender-neutral job descriptions by identifying masculine words (eg. “ambitious” and “challenging”) and feminine words (eg. “collaborative” and “support.”) This is especially important for diversity and inclusion strategies in industries that are traditionally male-dominated, such as tech and science.

Harver offers a suite of automated solutions that help organizations engage, hire, and develop the right talent in a fast and fundamentally less biased way. They offer pre-assessments, video interviews, and reference checking services.

Amplify your Recruiting Strategy with Nielsen Associates

Moving Beyond Happy: Giving Mental Health a Workplace Promotion

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 20:34:02 GMT

What is the most attractive quality in a hiring company? Research suggests that more and more employees are seeking strong company culture. According to a survey conducted by the United Nations in 2022, 40% of candidates worldwide prioritize strong company culture when seeking a new job. (1)

But simply getting talent through the door is a starting point, not an end point for building an exceptional workforce. In order for employers to stay competitive in the job market, they must regularly focus on retention strategy. One of the most critical ways to do this is to make sure your company culture goes beyond the theoretical.

As a mental health professional, I once worked for a community agency that required I take PTO in order to stay home on a day when there was a county road closure due to severe winter weather.

I was also penalized when clients missed their sessions for reasons that were out of my control. When I finally left this job due to burnout, I was required to open with new clients (meaning go through the intake process) through my very last week of employment. Ironically, I work in the mental health industry and my employer emphasized self-care, but never seemed to be able to help make this a reality.

Burnout is more than a Buzzword. Look out for the warning signs.

When organizational values aren't in sync, employees in every industry feel it. The trend of losing employees due to burnout has grown with alarming intensity in recent years. According to the American Psychological Association, “ issues like the politicization of masks and vaccines and feelings of lack of support from the government and workplaces have caused workers—especially those in public-facing jobs—to become cynical about their jobs and the public in general. This kind of cynicism is powerful because it undermines people’s feelings about the value of their work, which can help motivate them during hard times ” (2).

Burnout VS Stress:

It is important to make the distinction between stress and burnout. Burnout can best be described as highly accumulated, unresolved work place stress. Further, “when you’re suffering from burnout, it’s more than just fatigue. You have a deep sense of disillusionment and hopelessness that your efforts have been in vain. Life loses its meaning, and small tasks feel like a hike up Mount Everest. Your interests and motivation dry up, and you fail to meet even the smallest obligations.” (3)

Common signs of burnout include the following:

Lowered immunity to illness
Withdrawal from coworkers and social situations
Sleep deprivation
Trouble concentrating
Moodiness, impatience, and being short-tempered (3)

Practical Strategies for Taking Care of Mental Health

For full time employees, working hours constitute a majority of waking hours. Therefore what happens at work (remotely or in-person) is a major indicator of how well someone will arrive at mental well-being or lack thereof.

It may come as a surprise, but leaders should be mindful of putting happiness on a pedestal in the workplace. Many well-meaning people come to therapy saying, “I just want to be happy." While I don’t want to devalue this very legitimate desire, it is one that needs to be handled with care. Why do I say this? From a young age, many of us are socialized to believe that we are more lovable or likable when we are happy, smiley, lighthearted, etcetera. Maybe you can recall a time when you were compared to a sibling or a classmate as an incentive to stop crying or showing emotion. For example , “if you were able to behave like your sister/ classmate/ friend, you too could have ice cream." It’s possible that sometimes the chase for happiness is really, at its core, the pursuit of just wanting to receive more approval from others. Further, people who feel pressure to be happy often find it eludes them.

That said, not everyone seeking happiness is seeking it for the sake of approval. Many Americans rate “happy” emotions as being more important than “calm” or “peaceful” (5). Understandably, there is a kind of euphoria that happiness can facilitate that no other emotion can. Happiness is never static, however, and as I often remind my clients, trying to avoid your negative emotions is “dead people goals” because dead people can never feel sad. When the focus is shifted to wellness rather than happiness, all feelings are welcome and individuals are free to find value in the full range of their human experiences.

When the focus is shifted to wellness rather than happiness, all feelings are welcome and individuals are free to find value in the full range of their human experiences.

If leaders want to foster a transformational workspace, they should create an environment where employees know they are celebrated and appreciated not just on their best and brightest days, but every day. Normalize your workforce showing disappointment, frustration, and apprehension, rather than just excitement, enthusiasm, and gratitude. Challenge the belief that one can compartmentalize work and home life and be considerate of the co-workers who may be fielding enormous grief and pain due to personal circumstances. In doing this you can remind your workforce that their value is intrinsic and not just utilitarian.

Understandably, some will read what I have outlined here with concern that an “open” culture of emotions will lead to disorder and inevitable workplace conflict. But when managed healthily, the opposite tends to be true. There is a practice in therapy called emotion expansion, which relies on the premise that individuals who allow themselves to feel their emotions and engage with them tend to be more well-adjusted and suffer less harm than individuals who suppress them. The examples below are practical examples of what this can look like.

MENTAL HEALTH CARE STRATEGIES

FOR MANAGERS & EMPLOYEES

Give your employees access to mental health benefits.

Communicate regularly about mental health benefits and set an example by also using them.

Establish a comfort level. If your supervisee is crying in front of you in a supervisory setting, you can say something to the effect of, “it’s okay to cry in supervision, in fact I appreciate you trusting me with your emotions.” Most people feel incredibly vulnerable crying in the workplace, as it is something many of us have been socialized to believe is taboo. Take this as a prime opportunity to shift cultural norms and expectations.

Differentiate emotions versus behaviors in the workplace. All employees are allowed to have their emotions, but how these emotions are expressed and acted on in the workplace may or may not be beneficial. Have protocols and directives in place that tell employees where to go and what to do if their negative emotions involve someone else in the workplace. Emotional honesty need not exclude behavioral accountability.

Remind your employees that they are the expert of their own experience! If you are unsure where to start with someone, you can simply start by asking what would feel the most helpful to them based on what they are experiencing.

Ultimately, each workplace is as diverse as the people inside of it and I want to emphasize that what I have shared is in no way exhaustive. My intent is to help leaders and managers be more preventative in their workspaces rather than reactive when it comes to creating strong company culture and promoting mental health. While challenges will inevitably arise when it comes to this topic, investing in employee mental health is always less costly than the failure to do so.

More about Melanie Auerbach:

Melanie Auerbach (LCSW) practices cognitive behavioral therapy through an employer sponsored mental health company. She integrates her clinical skill-set with state of the art technology to provide quality short term care to a diverse client base. Outside of work, you can find Melanie absorbed in a great novel, learning bachata, or improving her skills at aerial yoga. To get in touch with Melanie , connect with her on LinkedIn .

References & Resources:

(1) https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/talent-solutions-lodestone/body/pdf/global_talent_trends_2022.pdf

(2) https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/01/special-burnout-stress

(3) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-right-mindset/202011/the-surprising-difference-between-stress-and-burnout

(4) https://www.lyrahealth.com/blog/from-workplace-to-safe-place-how-to-talk-about-mental-health-at-work/

(5) https://www.lyrahealth.com/blog/chasing-happiness/

It's all about Relationships

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 13:31:10 GMT

There are so many reasons to share this pic of Executive Recruiter, Dorian Caccamo, who's holding a painting from Brian, a newly hired Marketing Director. It's an expression of gratitude, and the result of a successful career placement, but there's more to it.

Working with a recruiter is an opportunity to collaborate. When communication is high, you'll find a career you're excited about. Recruiters are partners who understand the climate of the industry where you're looking, and they help you navigate the interview process, which they're fluent in. You're building a relationship, so there's an opportunity to be yourself, and display skills and traits that are hard to convey on a resume. Think emotional intelligence and energy-level, to name a few.

Want more of the story behind this awesome painting? Check out our Q&A with Dorian:

Connect with industry recruiters at every career stage, whether you're emerging from grad school, or a seasoned pro who hasn't interviewed in a while.

How did you connect?

I met this candidate on LinkedIn. I reached out to him because of his talent and skillset. When I interviewed him though, I knew he was the perfect match for what the client was looking for based on his personality, team player attitude, and his humble nature. The role was a Director of Marketing.

Does he love his new gig?

Yes! He does. Brian fit right in as of day 1! I went to visit the client and Brian to see how everything was going. The entire office was very happy to have him on board! They already had jokes going between them. I walked out of the building knowing Brian was in the right place and he was comfortable. Since he was hired, Brian moved to Seattle this year and the client is fully supportive of him working remotely. Again, Brian was able to achieve his dream to live in Seattle, looking at the Space Needle from his apartment and achieve greatness with the company!

How did you feel when you were gifted?

I was shocked and I felt appreciated. The Islanders have been my favorite team since I was 5. Brian remembered that and created this masterpiece. My favorite players are highlighted in the painting! Not only is Brian talented but he is thoughtful too. The perfect combination for this client. I was very thankful and have it hanging in my bar in my basement next to the Pittsburgh Steelers Heinz Field picture Brian created for my husband Ken.

Considering a career change?

Download a copy of When, Why, & How to Make a Career Change . It's our guide to prepping for and making a transition.

Here's what's inside:

9 Questions to ask before you start looking
How to spot a toxic work environment
Our six-step action plan to ge t unstuck

Time to Engage

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 05:42:14 GMT

You can’t dispute the power of an engaged workforce.

Engagement is hard to elicit, and even harder to intensify, but when employees really care and feel emotionally committed to their work, magic happens. Quite naturally they become internal influencers, brand ambassadors, and culture promoters. Engaged employees are more likely to deliver outstanding customer experiences, and they are better teammates — because they take responsibility; they contribute consistently; and they do what it takes to achieve results. If it sounds utopian, take a look at these stats:

32%

are engaged.

32% of US workers are engaged.

21%

more profitable.

Companies with an engaged workforce are 21% more profitable.

41%

less absenteeism.

Companies with an engaged workforce have 41% lower absenteeism.

17%

more productive.

Companies with an engaged workforce are 17% more productive.

And here’s something noteworthy: While it might be challenging to measure and correlate, engagement strategies yield real results — even when only a third of workers classify as ‘engaged’. The numbers climb when there is a large population of ‘highly engaged workers.’ Profitability and productivity grow exponentially, plus a host of performance indicators identified by Gallup . Companies who actively engage and delight their teams are building loyalty and driving business growth. The effort is worth it.

So what exactly is engagement? And can it be measured?

There are plenty of definitions out there. Gallup, who has years of research on engagement, says engaged employees are “ those who are highly involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work and workplace. ” We asked Kiki Orski, CEO and Founder of Peak Performance Consulting , and author of the newly published book, Smash the Silos , to weigh in with her own working definition. “Employee engagement measures the strength of a relationship between an employee and an organization. It describes how much discretionary effort an employee is willing to put in, ” says Kiki. She agreed there are many definitions floating around, and often much confusion. Kiki explained that “ an employee can be "satisfied" with their work and still do just the bare minimum to get their job done. An employee can also be happy but not engaged, meaning they’re not willing to do anything more than is absolutely necessary.”

The terms we use to define engagement matter, as do the questions we ask to measure it. Engagement is about commitment, caring, and the willingness to put in effort. Kiki adds that “ organizations are notoriously data rich and information poor, meaning we gather all these numbers but don't necessarily do all that we can to improve them. There is research that positively correlates employee engagement to business outcomes. Every leader should be aware of and concerned about it. ”

Eric Mosley, Workhuman co-founder and CEO echoes this by saying, “ Amazing work cultures don’t just spring up overnight. they come from amplifying employee voices, asking questions relevant to today’s workforce, and then making the right changes.”

The terms we use to define engagement matter, as do the questions we ask to measure it. Engagement is about commitment, caring, and the willingness

to put in effort.

What keeps employees engaged?

1- Sense of Ownership

Employees can work on projects that they own — from analysis and scoping through implementation and iteration.

2- Sense of Belonging

Employees feel comfortable sharing feedback and ideas with colleagues and business leaders. They are encouraged to be their authentic self at work, and share unique points of view. They understand how their role at the company contributes to large-scale business strategy.

3- Results & Recognition

Employees have specific performance objectives that are realistic, attainable, and measurable; and their contributions are recognized, valued, celebrated, and rewarded.

4- Pathways to Growth

Employees have individualized professional development plans that are aligned with strategic corporate goals AND their personal career aspirations. They’re motivated to learn new skills.

4 Ways to Engage Teams

1 - Hire & Develop Inclusive Leaders

Inclusive leaders can really transform a work environment. They’re communicators who know how to make any employee feel welcomed; and they encourage everyone to participate and make contributions that are valued. When you make inclusion a leadership requirement and hire accordingly, the boost in engagement impacts everything - from your ability to innovate to customer satisfaction. Here are the top traits and competencies to screen for:

2 - Continuous Listening & Feedback

Gone are the days of the annual engagement survey that takes two hours and makes everybody groan. Today the employee survey industry is worth billions of dollars. Platforms like WorkHuman and Delighted make getting insight from your team fast and easy. There are survey tools for every goal - whether you want to check morale in real time, gauge leadership effectiveness, or predict potential flight-risks and proactively handle turnover. Here’s a sampling of popular formats:

Pulse Surveys -

Get real-time insight, and do it often with these effective quickies. Since responses are situational and subjective— frequent, multiple collections offer a more accurate and comprehensive view of employee sentiment over time.

Most platforms are automated and designed to send the right surveys to the right workers at the right time, while eliminating survey fatigue.

eNPS -

Employee Net Promoter Score is a strong indicator of loyalty; and it also identifies who the detractors -or naysayers- are on your team. The survey can be as simple as asking a single question with a rating scale, and it’s a popular metric because it’s straightforward and easy to understand.

“Listening to employees is one of the most valuable management practices we have. If you’re still running an old survey platform or haven’t yet adopted a continuous listening strategy, now is the time to do it.”

Engagement Surveys -

Custom engagement surveys are typically targeted to uncover how your team feels about something specific -- whether you want employees to share their thoughts on a policy, a new initiative, or discover what they prefer when it comes to benefit programs and perks.

Onboarding & Exit -

Ask for feedback during key moments in the employee lifecycle. Real insights help you identify the right strategies to improve overall employee experience.

3 - Focus Groups

Focus Groups aren’t a new concept, and for many companies the time is right for an implementation, or a revival. Practically everything is different now, and there’s much for employees to weigh in on. There are new ways of working — with implementations in their infancy.

Simultaneously, for many teams, there’s a renewed (or newfound) comfort level when it comes to having conversations that matter. The pandemic sparked spirited discussion on wellbeing, burnout, boundaries, diversity, racial injustice, and beyond. With so much change, there’s a residual ripple effect that’s impossible to ignore. What’s working? What isn’t? What else needs to change?

What’s awesome is — if you’re just starting a listening strategy, focus groups let you dip in your toes and pinpoint where to focus first. And if you’re already listening with pulse surveys, focus groups give the data a voice. Structured groups foster deeper understanding because there’s multi-directional conversation, and action plans are easier to carve, thanks to sharing and merging of the best ideas. Here’s advice from SHRM on how to execute focus groups like a pro.

4 - Harness the Power of Technology

If you’re a large organization with a unified ERP platform, capitalize on any engagement tools that are baked in to the HCM module. Most include robust listening tools including pulse and engagement surveys so you can collect and analyze data. And if you want more? Add a stand-alone platform that integrates. (Stand-alone platforms are great choices for small to mid-sized businesses who are on legacy systems, too.) There’s so much on the market to shop - from interactive employee portals that improve communication across the entire organization to full service employee experience platforms.

The best employee portal apps on the market have social components that make it easier for employees to connect, chat, and form virtual communities regardless of their role, tenure, or geographic location. Some platforms offer skillset tagging so it’s easy to find and connect with internal experts. And many full-service experience platforms include onboarding, compliance, recognition, performance management and development modules to engage and support workers during all stages of the employee lifecycle.

Here are a few movers and shakers to kickstart your research:

Interact

Social intranet & extranet for employees, partners, and vendors. It’s packed with features, including pulse surveys, personalization & personas, workflows, and an onboarding module.

https://www.interactsoftware.com

15Five

Robust employee experience and engagement platform that includes modules for feedback & surveys, goal-setting and focus, performance management, and skills development.

https://www.15five.com

Lattice

Collect feedback, transform it into meaningful insight, and plan for effective action to build a people-first culture with Lattice. Modules include: Feedback & Analytics, Growth Planning & Career Paths, Goals & Performance Management, and a Compensation module that connects pay and performance.

https://lattice.com/engagement

WorkHuman

The workman cloud is packed with tools that let teams and individuals shine bright in the modern workplace. Modules include Social Recognition and Service Awards, MoodTracker & Pulse Surveys, Performance Management, Community Celebrations & Life Events, plus Social Analytics.

https://www.workhuman.com

Kudos

Kudos is an EX platform with a unique differentiator that helps organizations build a more prominent culture and infuse corporate values into every employee experience. Modules include: Peer-toPeer Social Communities, Values Alignment, Awards & Recognition, and Culture Accelerator.

https://www.kudos.com

Grow your Leadership Team with Nielsen Associates

For over 20 years, Nielsen Associates has built, developed and nurtured a network of talented leaders in the Human Resources, Marketing, and Finance & Accounting industries. We can quickly present the most progressive, capable, trustworthy candidates who you can't find online. Request a free consultation with our team of specialized recruiters to learn more about our executive & leadership search services.

10 Reasons to Partner with a Search Firm

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 00:33:01 GMT

1. Build a Diverse Talent Pipeline

If you’re wading through a pile of resumes and the results are lackluster, search firms can help you mine for gold. Experienced firms nurture a deep network of relationships. They will identify and qualify passive candidates (especially at the senior level) who may not be active on career sites. According to LinkedIn, a whopping 70% of the global workforce are passive job seekers. That means there are millions of people who may be open to new work opportunities under the right conditions, but they’re unlikely to see job postings because they’re not actively conducting a job search. Search firms have the ability to present passive candidates who you can't find online.

Get to know our team.

2. Get Expertise & Alternative Perspectives

When you find the right search firm, you're forming a true, collaborative partnership. If you’re an employer, you can expect an experienced firm to ask a lot of questions to uncover your strategic talent needs today and in the future. Experienced firms listen deeply and they’ll recommend progressive talent solutions you might not have considered. Search firms offer a unique perspective during the entire hiring process; from requirements gathering through negotiating an offer.

Job seekers who work with an experienced search firm can expect expert guidance and other ancillary services including resume development, and interview coaching and support. Some search firms even offer web-based digital training and other professional development resources to assist job-seekers in refreshing their skills and developing new ones.

3. Fill Challenging Roles

Search firms are built for challenges . When you're trying to hire an exceptional professional who has a unique, hybrid blend of technical and soft skills, it's a full-time job. Third-party recruiters are dedicated to finding 'all-in-one' candidates who are the whole package.

4. Be Confidential

Search firms are your go-to partner whenever there's an opening that requires sensitivity and complete confidentiality. They help you recruit discreetly without disruption from employees, competitors, or the public. They can quickly find the best candidates for job openings that can't be advertised or publicized by your company.

Learn more about confidential recruiting and how a search firm can help.

5. Save Time and Money

When you partner with a search firm, you will reduce 'time-to-hire'; improve 'quality-of-hire'; and make better, more collaborative hiring decisions. New hire turnover is expensive, especially at the senior level, so it pays to find and hire the most qualified candidates who have what it takes to become fully integrated , highly valued team members.

6. Jump into Interviewing Top Talent

There’s a lot that happens before interviews; and search firms can handle sourcing, pre-qualification, pre-screening, and even pre-assessments when it’s required. When you let search firms do the preliminary leg work for you, they'll present candidates who are set to progress to interviews at your company. One advantage here, especially when it comes to critical roles, new roles, and executive positions, is that you’re free to really hone the interview process. For critical positions, you can craft an interview process that’s more tailored, specific, detailed, and targeted for the unique position you’re trying to fill.

7. Stay Focused on Strategy

When your in-house HR and Recruiting staff are stretched to capacity, third party search firms provide needed support so you can move forward with open job requisitions, and stay focused on your talent strategy —- even when plates are full. Third-party search firms are an extension of your team. Whether there’s a backlog of openings or a unique role that’s time-consuming, search firms can help you meet your recruiting KPIs and reach your talent goals.

8. Improve Candidate Experience

Search firms work hard to make a great impression because the experience throughout the hiring process really matters. It’s where employee experience begins; and the talent market is extremely competitive, with more remote opportunities and less geographic constraints than ever before. Candidates today are receiving multiple offers, and they’re making big career decisions based on the interview experience, compensation, and culture.

83% of candidates say a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once liked.

During screening and hiring, search firms will coordinate interviews and schedules; communicate regularly with candidates, and provide closure and feedback on your behalf. It’s service with an impact. Companies who take the time to develop a positive candidate hiring experience reported a 70% improvement in the quality of hires. (Source: Glassdoor ). And 87% say a positive interview experience can change someone’s mind about a previously doubted role or company. (Source: LinkedIn )

9. Succession Planning

Succession planning is an internal talent strategy. It promotes talent mobility within an organization which results in higher retention; and it helps organizations nurture internal knowledge transfer, leadership continuity, and deep relationship building. It’s a full-time strategic initiative. When there’s a critical opening without an internal successor, you can leverage the network of third party firms to find executive-level candidates of the highest quality.

10. Hire Temps and Contractors

Search firms can present qualified independent subcontractors whenever you need temporary coverage. Staffing with temporary coverage helps companies maintain service levels and reach performance targets during busy seasons (think open enrollment); during a leave of absence; and when additional staff is required on a temporary basis for project implementations. In many cases, the process is as seamless as possible, and payroll is processed by the recruiting firm; so there’s less administration for your team.

Amplify your Recruiting Strategy with Nielsen Associates

For over 20 years, Nielsen Associates has built, developed and nurtured a network of talented professionals and business leaders. We can quickly present the most progressive, capable, trustworthy Human Resources , Marketing , and Finance candidates. Request a free consultation with our team of specialized recruiters to learn more about our services.

Reading Together

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 21:19:53 GMT

Have you ever let a book change you?

In the personal and professional growth category, it’s precisely the goal. We reach for these books to take matters into our own hands, and we do it with intention. Need to grow a backbone? There’s a book for that. Wish there was less red tape? There are volumes on streamlining operations for increased speed, better flow, and superior experiences for customers and workers.

When you let them in, books in this category are powerful and transformative. (At least the best ones are — and there’s a lot to sift through.) So what makes a great development book? And why are some books considered classics? Here's our criteria:

What Makes a Great

Development Book?

It’s a resource you reach for often; long after having first read it. There’s timeless advice inside.
It has high relevance, with anecdotal stories (or case studies) you relate to.
It presents a unique point of view, and reading feels like discovery.
It inspires you to act.
It’s something you want to share with others.

8 Benefits of Sharing Books

With Your Team

Assess the collective mindset and foster group harmony.
Crack open tough topics and start conversations that matter (eg: toxic cultures, political obstacles, diversity, trust.)
Address myths and diffuse conflicts.
Increase awareness and inspire conscious change .
Improve team dynamics and strengthen relationships.
Increase engagement and inclusion.
Support and cultivate a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Address and enhance specific performance competencies.

How to Share Books with your Team

There’s really no wrong way to share wisdom, so tap into your style and use your judgement when it comes to team preferences. If you’re concerned about people who aren’t avid readers, choose titles that have an audio version. Make space for team members who might feel pressure related to their workload. Be upfront about your expectations and allocate dedicated reading time during the workday. Here’s some more advice:

Give it at the right time.

Add context, meaning and show your support at key times -- for example, during onboarding , when someone is promoted, or preceding a strategy pivot.

Give it structure.

Plan group conversations in advance and give your team a schedule so they can prepare and participate. Make it interactive and experiential by partnering with an instructional designer for developmental activities.

Give it weight.

Tie key learnings from the book to the team's performance objectives & appraisals.

Revisit the Classics, Get Inspired, & Discover Something New with Six of our Favorites

Confession: It was hard to whittle down the list to only six, but we heard people hate to scroll. So here’s our tightly curated collection from thought leaders who are experts at their craft, and in their industry:

One Minute Manager - Ken Blanchard & Spencer Johnson

When managing humans has you snarled and stalled in confusion, you’ll reach for the simple and effective strategies in The One Minute Manager . It’s a refreshingly concise management crash-course for newly appointed leaders and seasoned pros alike. Blanchard and Johnson cover three essential techniques of an effective manager: one minute goals, one minute praise, and one minute re-directs (or reprimands, depending on the edition.) Each technique is fast, impactful in the moment, with lasting benefits. Discover Blanchard’s entire ‘One Minute’ series on his website.

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 - Bradberry & Greaves

There’s a misconception that people are naturally emotionally intelligent, and that it’s something you either have or you don’t. But with the practical strategies in Emotional Intelligence 2.0 , it’s possible to navigate treacherous emotional terrain and build your skills. It breaks down emotional intelligence (EQ) so it’s easy to understand, and teaches how to measure EQ and then harness its power for harmonious relationships at work and at home. If it’s interactivity you’re after, this book is packed with more than 60 strategies, journaling prompts, and it comes with a powerful online assessment tool; so it’s an awesome pick for team reading. (We were so inspired we developed an ebook on how to transform your recruiting strategy by screening for EQ. )

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team - Patrick Lencioni

Can a book on leadership be enthralling? Thanks to powerful storytelling, Patrick Lencioni has birthed a classic that takes us inside the fascinating, complex world of teams. The female protagonist in this ‘leadership fable’ is facing a crisis; and as she summons courage and insight to unite her team, Lencioni exposes five dysfunctions that block real progress (absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results). He counters each of these dysfunctions with behaviors teams can supplement to rise above dysfunction and grow stronger with every challenge. The wildly popular behavioral model in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has inspired entire corporate training curriculums. Seek them out for maximum cultural impact.

Think Again - Adam Grant

This is a best-seller about unlearning and rethinking. It’s a mind-opener from organizational psychologist Adam Grant about having the courage to lean into discomfort so we can challenge our own deeply ingrained beliefs, opinions, and patterns. We don’t have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel, and we can shed viewpoints that don’t serve us anymore. Think Again reveals the joy of being wrong, the beauty of embracing the unknown, and the benefit of staying curious in a noisy world where we debate around the clock, and across the globe. “We think too much like preachers defending our sacred beliefs, prosecutors proving the other side wrong, and politicians campaigning for approval--and too little like scientists searching for truth.”

Dare to Lead - Brené Brown

In ' Dare To Lead ', Brené Brown defines a leader as 'anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes and has the courage to develop that potential.’ Brené acknowledges the challenges that exist, particularly when the default culture is one of scarcity, fear, and uncertainty. "Daring leadership requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start." If you want to develop brave leaders who inspire a courageous culture, this is a book to connect with.

Good to Great - Jim Collins

Good to Great is the result of a five-year project to determine what it takes to transform a good company into a great one. Backed by statistics and real-world success stories, Collins makes the case that most prescriptions for creating large-scale corporate change are nothing but myths. There are no miracle moments, motivational stunts, or change programs that reliably guarantee results. Instead, this book offers tangible proof that greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice and having the discipline to remain consistent as you execute daily. Find out what really drives change (and what doesn’t) in this intelligent exploration on how to move the needle and achieve exceptional results.

Ready to next-level your career?

Talk to a recruiter for free. Our team will help you clarify your career goals, spotlight your skills, launch a job search and land interviews at companies who you want to work for. Contact us to start the process.

Confidential Searches

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 05:41:27 GMT

Recruiting Under the Radar

What is a confidential search? And when are they necessary?

Confidential searches are needed when there's a job opening that cannot be advertised or publicized in any way by your company, because you don’t want competitors, employees, or the public to know you are hiring. In a world of splashy employer branding, internal talent marketplaces, and increased transparency, it’s drastically different. But there are modern business cases where complete confidentiality is required. Here are a few common scenarios:

Performance Improvement

If you need to replace an under-performing employee, especially someone in a senior leadership role, a confidential search lets you recruit for a specific position discreetly when there isn’t an internal successor. It’s a way to maintain “business as usual” operations, without a gap in leadership.

Strategic Planning & Corporate Restructuring

When you're executing a strategy change which hasn’t been announced to employees or the public, confidential recruiting allows you to minimize disruption and stay focused. Perhaps your company is expanding into a new regional market, and as a result, there are freshly scoped leadership roles to fill. These types of strategy pivots often ignite speculation and gossip during early phases. Although it’s a natural reaction to change, speculation can negatively impact employee morale and retention, and create an unintended stir in your industry. Confidential searches help you find the right talent, and execute on time and according to plan, under the radar.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions are big changes to steer. To maintain confidentiality and minimize impact on the existing workforce, confidential recruiting happens during all phases of the process. Early on, when confidential discussions are just underway, and when preparing for an IPO, executive teams and boards often hire experts who are experienced in Regulatory Compliance and M&A. And as companies move deeper into a merger, related talent needs (and the need for sensitivity) are likely to increase.

Confidential talent searches are effective whenever you need to be sensitive about an opening.

They let you recruit discreetly without disruption from

employees, competitors, or the public.

What are the challenges? And how does a recruiting firm help?

Confidential searches take longer because the recruiting process is different. Here’s why it’s so challenging:

Challenge #1: You can’t rely on brand recognition to attract top talent.

Major career sites like Indeed and LinkedIn are equipped to support a confidential search, with a “company confidential” option for job listings. Confidential listings won’t display on your company page, so they can’t be browsed by employees and competitors. Instead, they are viewed across the display network on the platform, similar to a sponsored ad. But the major drawback is the loss of brand recognition. There isn't a job ad with your logo on it; and you’re missing the branded 'call-to-action' that ordinarily grabs people’s attention and convinces them to apply. Discerning job-seekers prefer transparency. They’re less likely to apply when they aren’t able to research the company’s culture, financials, and beyond. You’re definitely going to see less applicants when you rely on confidential listings alone, which means you’re missing out on talent.

Luckily, there are solutions. Experienced search firms ( such as our team ) nurture a deep network of professional relationships. We have the ability to identify and qualify passive candidates who aren’t active on career sites, especially at the senior level. Search firms handle pre-screening with discretion, and present qualified candidates who you won’t find online.

Challenge #2: You aren't enlisting help from internal recruiters.

At mid and large-sized organizations, internal recruiting teams are typically process-driven, highly specialized, and collaborative. But during a confidential search, the internal team (and standard recruiting procedures) are often bypassed, which means an executive or senior leader steps in to handle all aspects of hiring, from sourcing to interview screening, single-handedly. It’s time-consuming, especially when you’re seeking highly specific skills and qualifications. It’s a scenario where expertise and internal collaboration are required —but prohibited—due to the confidential nature of the opening.

Experienced search firms are collaborative, and they will partner with you to make optimal hiring decisions during a confidential search. When you’re unable to rely on your team in the office, a search firm will handle administrative and specialized recruiting functions. They can manage confidential ad placements, sourcing, pre-qualification, pre-screening, and pre-assessments. They'll present candidates who are ready to progress to interviews, and they will coordinate virtual and offsite interviews discreetly. Search firms offer collaborative support and expert guidance throughout the entire hiring process, including compensation and salary negotiations. You will save time; you’ll improve the candidate’s experience, and you’ll fill confidential roles more quickly and with confidence.

Partner with Nielsen Associates for all of your strategic confidential searches.

Our recruiters coordinate all phases of the screening process with sensitivity and professionalism - whether you're replacing an underperforming leader, reorganizing, or re-strategizing.

Build a relationship with us! We are committed to understanding your unique business needs, strategic goals, and becoming your go-to partner during hiring. Request a complimentary consultation to get started.

Save time.

Find the best talent.

Stay focused on strategy.

Is it time to expand the C-Suite?

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 18:05:19 GMT

New C-Level roles are constantly emerging at companies who want to align their future-focused goals with an expert leader, starting at the top. Think Chief Experience Officer, Chief Trust Officer, Chief Innovation Officer, and beyond. Adding an executive who can champion new programs, influence organization-wide change, and craft long-term vision and strategy is how many organizations achieve business results that are transformational and sustainable.

Expanding the C-Suite is a top-level talent strategy when you take the business roadmap seriously.

An expanded C-Suite results in more balance, strategy and accountability at the top. There’s a wider range of organizational priorities for the executive group to harmonize, and a greater diversity of perspectives.

Collaboratively, a diverse executive team grows their organization in a more unified, holistic, and connected way. They put the right cross-functional business strategies in place so there’s less operational redundancy, optimized processes and work-flows, alignment of strategy and corporate messages, and maximum ROI.

5 Reasons to Grow

Your C-Suite

1 - When you want to increase accountability for specific business goals, top down.

2. When you need deeper knowledge, experience, and expertise at the executive level, in order to more effectively steer corporate strategy, and influence stakeholders and board members.

3. When you want a more diverse leadership team.

4. When you want hands-on executives and more executive presence, without causing top-level burnout and overwhelm.

5. When you want greater alignment between corporate values, culture, and business goals.

CHROs: Starting With People

Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) bring unique value to the table in particular. Because they tend to be much more human-centered , CHROs add necessary balance when the primary focus is on business financials, infrastructure, operations, and the competitive landscape.

CHROs (and Chief People Officers) prioritize employees as key stakeholders in all business activities; they understand people drive business results; and they know how to minimize organizational risk. Collaboratively with their colleagues, CHRO’s are able to do more strategic, high-level work, beyond day-to-day HR operations. They maintain focus on the future of the organization and its people. Jim Link, Chief Human Resources Officer at Randstad recently echoed this as a Forbes Contributor : “In my mind, the role of the CHRO must evolve to become a “future of work expert.” The CHRO needs to understand — and strategize in advance of — emerging trends that will have huge impacts on organizations and workforces of the future.

"New workforce models, leadership skills, and talent needs are just around the corner.

If the CHRO isn ’t planning for it, who is?"

Jim Link

Chief Human Resources Officer

Randstad North Americ a

CHROs Making an Impact

When there are high-ranking HR Executives at the table, the company’s people strategies become more prominent and ubiquitous. Here’s how:

Talent

CHRO’s steer and unify a wide span of strategic talent initiatives, including recruiting, employer branding , job architecture, compensation and benefits, performance management and retention, professional development, and succession planning. They identify emerging skill sets that the organization needs to execute goals and thrive in the future; they ensure the right competencies are being emphasized during talent acquisition; they put diversity front and center; and they own resource allocation planning for future-slated initiatives which are often confidential during early stages. They select an HR tech infrastructure that optimizes talent acquisition, workforce planning, and learning management.

Organizational Design

With the rise of cloud-based ERP and perpetual, accelerated digital transformation, it’s safe to say many companies are currently “ in a design phase. ” Companies are re-imagining how work gets done; and HR leaders are being asked to define the who, what, why, where and when. More than ever before, HR leaders are 'consulting on the inside’ to structure the business and shape operations. HR roles are evolving; and there’s a greater demand for executive guidance and sponsorship. CHROs are needed to influence and guide a variety of OD activities including:

re-architecting an organization’s structure; including functional teams, individual jobs; and mission-critical roles
applying an “employee-centered” approach when designing operational workflows, policies, and programs
advocating for wellbeing, purpose and meaning
workforce scheduling that’s more fluid and flexible

Change Management

As companies zoom fast towards the future, there are inevitable paradigm shifts to navigate. Change adoption always comes with some level of push-back, particularly when change is broad. Executives who are accountable care about morale AND optimized implementations, and they seek to understand the source of change resistance so that real concerns can be addressed by leaders across the organization. It requires more communication, more inclusivity, more feedback and listening, and more iteration than ever.

Organizational Culture

The concept of workplace culture is transforming to encompass much more, including leadership philosophy, management strategy and style. Organizations are discovering that culture isn’t location-specific, and it permeates everything, regardless of where employees work. As a result, CHROs are re-defining leadership and mapping out new leadership competencies; and they’re refocusing and upskilling leadership teams to meet new and future demands.

“For an organization to truly become human at its core, HR must take the lead in embedding human considerations into every aspect of work, collaborating with business leaders to reimagine work across the entire organization.”

Deloitte Human Capital Trends

Part of this involves overseeing an important cultural shift as companies rely more heavily on technology to make a tangible cultural impact. Organizations need to deliver productivity tools, benefits, perks, and programs that can be distributed digitally, anywhere, any time. This means new digital platforms for team collaboration, feedback, recognition, rewards, and beyond. There’s new technology to manage and optimize, more digital fluency is needed across the entire workforce; and there are more data insights for executives to learn from.

Employee Experience

Having a high-ranking HR leader at the top results in employee-centered everything - from better employee experiences with consumer-grade conveniences; to business policies that are designed with worker well-being in mind. Big picture, wall-to-wall employee experience strategies are cross-functional, and they shape how workers experience a company during all stages of the employee lifecycle— from the very first touchpoint during recruiting and onboarding , to everyday performance management, career development, leadership succession, benefits utilization, and retirement. CHROs who focus on lifecycle experiences see increased retention, higher employee satisfaction scores, and higher program utilization, but there’s more. EX is also a customer strategy. The Josh Bersin company recently found that companies who are leveraging the right EX Strategies are 2.2x more likely to reach financial targets, and 2.4x more likely to delight customers.

Here's Why & When to add a CHRO:

When you need to align business goals with people strategies

When you are struggling to find, retain and develop talent

During periods of transformation and change

When you need an executive leader who excels at communication to effectively manage all stakeholders

When you want a more prominent people strategy that starts at the very top, executed top-down

When you want an executive who can review and influence strategic decisions with a unique, human-centered lens.

Grow your Executive Team with Nielsen Associates

For over 20 years, Nielsen Associates has built, developed and nurtured a network of talented Human Resources leaders. We can quickly present the most progressive, capable, trustworthy candidates in the industry. Request a free consultation with our team of specialized recruiters to learn more about our executive search services.

Balanced Leadership

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 03:22:29 GMT

Human-Centered & Business-Centered Leaders

What is your leadership philosophy?

It’s a tough question you’re bound to hear at some point, whether you’re talking to stakeholders or preparing for an interview. It’s also a cultural question that many organizations have been grappling with since the pandemic. The thought-process went something like this:

Free coffee in the break room? Check. Summer Fridays? Check. Business casual? Check.

They’re all awesome perks — but with hybrid and remote teams, perks aren’t a way to define culture. Culture is about how we lead - our values, philosophies, and management strategies. Culture is something every employee can feel, wherever they are stationed, whatever they’re wearing, and regardless if they drink coffee.

The good news is, there are hundreds of leadership assessments on the market, available for individuals and teams, from DISC, to Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI,) to the EQ-I 2.0. Here’s a list of 18 popular assessments from Indeed that companies use to screen and measure leadership capability, optimize strengths, and identify development needs. (Thanks, Indeed!) With so many different tools available, you’re guaranteed to gain deeper self-awareness.

But — how can you take a definitive stance on leadership philosophy when there’s so many different leadership styles, and so many different assessments?

And what if you’re looking for a simple way to define leadership, holistically as an organization?

What if your goal is to unify and align many individuals (culturally) who each have diverse personal styles?

Perhaps discovering answers to complex, philosophical leadership questions is more simple than we realize. In this blog, we’ll spark curiosity and encourage further exploration, by starting with a less-formal approach.

1 - Begin with High-level Contrast

Let’s start with two broad categories of leadership:

These are overly simplistic definitions, and at first glance, you might think it’s easy to categorize yourself. First and foremost, you’re a person, regardless of your career path or position; and therefore, people come first, before everything else. Obviously.

But if we take an honest look at actual behaviors — our meeting agendas, deadlines, and metrics; the discussions we have with our teams, and new visibility we have on burnout, workload, and overwhelm, it’s obvious we need a conscious rebalance.

Business-Centered Leadership:

Here we focus on how to grow, optimize, and improve the business. We prioritize innovation, marketing, growth, operations, R&D, manufacturing, quality, and financial results. We teach leaders about technology, the competitive marketplace, supply chains, and competitive advantage.

Human-Centered Leadership:

Here we focus on hiring, developing, coaching, inspiring, and motivating people to grow, innovate, serve customers, and improve the company. We teach leaders how to understand what makes people thrive, what drives creativity and problem-solving in the company, and how we can support people during times of change, stress, or disruption.

Adapted from 'The Big Reset Playbook', The Josh Bersin Company

2 - Compare Mindsets, Skills, Behaviors

To gain deeper understanding and self-awareness, let’s take a closer look at the details. Do you recognize any of these mindsets, skills, and behaviors?

Mindsets & Attitudes

Skills & Capabilities

Behaviors

Adapted from 'The Big Reset Playbook', The Josh Bersin Company

3 - Do you have to pick one philosophy? Should you?

In his Big Reset Playbook, Josh Bersin points out that at first glance, “it seems silly to use the words “human-centered” in a discussion of leadership, since the whole idea of leading is to deal with people.” But in reality, many business leaders put business first. Perhaps it’s traditional conditioning, perhaps it’s the culture, and perhaps it’s how a particular leader has achieved success for many years in the past.

But research shows there are clear advantages and real business outcomes when leaders understand the importance of weaving the company’s vision, mission, and purpose into everyday operations. Purpose-driven businesses are more inclusive and productive, and there’s greater accountability at every level. Leaders who know how to juxtapose people priorities AND business priorities by taking a more intentional, balanced approach see tangible results.

Bersin says, “Human-centered leaders don’t just say the right things. They believe in people as the source of their organization's competitive advantage and the key to business success." Human-centered leaders are more likely to be better listeners, and they listen actively and inclusively so they can learn from their team and other leaders. They’re self-reflective, they coach and provide feedback, and care for wellbeing naturally. It’s progressive contrast to traditional leadership models we’re familiar with, which may be less effective in workplaces and industries that are transforming.

There are pros and cons whether you adapt your style or remain consistent. It’s a conscious judgement call every time you switch things up; and people goals and business outcomes should always be part of the decision. For example, if there are compliance problems, giving directives and staying consistent establishes clear expectations with teams.

But when market conditions demand a change in order to stay competitive; or if the company is struggling to engage and retain talent, it makes sense to adapt, which often means taking radically different approaches than in the past.

Each time a leader decides to change their approach, it’s a strategic decision. Greater self-awareness helps us recognize when the time is right.

Partner With Us

For more than 20 years, we've nurtured a deep network of professional relationships. Our team can identify and qualify passive candidates (especially at the senior level) who may not be active on career sites. We''ll present candidates who you can't find online; and help you fill challenging roles. Get to know us with a free consultation . We're looking forward to talking.

How do you feel about empathy?

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 23:29:58 GMT

It’s a clever headline, but from a business standpoint, how often do you find yourself wishing we had more of it?

Empathy is a deeper level of understanding required for relationships and design. ‘Required’ may sound extreme, because for many of us, understanding how empathy flows inside business environments is new terrain.

In his boo k, ' Empathy' , Roman Krznaric gives a refreshingly straight-forward definition:

"Empathy is the art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of another person, understanding their feelings and perspectives, and using that understanding to guide your actions."

It’s much different than sympathy, and it’s not the same as the golden rule, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Because, as George Bernard Shaw points out, people have different preferences. And empathy includes discovering what their preferences are.

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?

-HENRY DAVID THOREAU

Businesses who design with empathy improve experience.

When practicing empathy, awareness is an inherent part of the process. Understanding of others and self naturally increases. Companies who know their strengths, weaknesses, and what’s important to stakeholders have clear awareness of who they are today. If you know who you are, and you design end-to-end experiences for stakeholders who you know, satisfaction increases. Employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and the board of directors, too.

The Operational Side of Empathy

What does empathy look like in action? Here’s a business breakdown in three stages:

1 - Ask & Listen

Empathy starts with knowing, it’s cognitive. It’s a continuous stage in any relationship where you’re asking for and gathering information, preferences, and feedback. Creating a culture of empathy begins with awareness. You might survey customers, employees, and vendors; have a roundtable with your team, or a one-on-one with your boss. You consider all perspectives and feedback, good and bad, strengths and weaknesses. Awareness increases as you discover stakeholder needs, and whether you’re meeting them.

During this stage, to increase self-awareness and improve the quality of communication, companies may administer personality diagnostics so teams can discover more about their own work style, traits, and tendencies. And strategically, they may hire emotionally intelligent leaders who have exceptional communication skills to increase the depth and effectiveness of communication inside their organization.

2 - Understand, Relate, Feel

The second part of empathy is emotional. During stage 1, if we learned someone is experiencing pain, this is the stage where we gather more information to understand their pain points more fully - the how and why - and the impact. Pulse surveys, focus groups, case studies, analytics, and appointing brand ambassadors are all part of this stage, where Companies attempt to learn about their target audience, emotionally relate to them, and discover how they can best serve them.

3 - Take Guided, Intentional Action

The third stage of empathy involves action. It’s the stage where a full range of more informed decisions can be made - ranging from how you act, what messages you convey, what strategies you choose, and what services you offer. Is it possible to make decisions and take action without awareness or empathy? Can a company implement new systems and policies without knowledge of the people who may be impacted? Sure. But messages will be less sensitive and less personal, and your actions may not have the desired outcome or achieve the business results you’re after. Empathy empowers companies and leaders to proactively consider how their approach and delivery will be interpreted and perceived by employees and target customers.

During this stage, teams combine data with imaginative, creative techniques to design end-to-end experiences. Lifecycle design (onboarding through termination,) persona development, and storyboarding are utilized to imagine how employees and customers will respond in a variety of scenarios.

Apply Everywhere

Thought leader Seth Godin says, “you have no business being a marketer unless you have empathy for people you are seeking to serve.”

It’s hard to argue with anything from Mr. Godin, but in his observation, he’s missing leaders. Maybe someone can ask him to change the wording.

Does your team trust you, and each other?

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:43:04 GMT

Our guest blogger this month asks a big question. Building trust is always challenging, but it’s an essential ingredient for organizations to thrive, and even more difficult during times of constant change and turmoil. Newly remote teams are collaborating from a distance, on flexible schedules, with more ways to connect and communicate than ever before. Other teams are returning to the workplace with alternating and often conflicting schedules. Both scenarios are a cause for concern when it comes to building and strengthening trust on a team. There’s more opportunities to hit - or miss.

Kiki Orski is an experienced Performance Improvement Consultant who coaches leaders on working more effectively with their leadership teams, their employees and their clients to improve productivity, engagement and profits. Her company, Peak Performance Consulting is dedicated to helping organizations achieve exceptional performance at every level, starting at the top.

We wanted Kiki’s perspective on the importance of trust. It’s hard to define and measure, so what do we know about the impact of it? And how is trust built? Keep reading for Kiki’s insights, plus her strategies for building and nurturing trust at every level of your team.

Does your team trust you, and each other? I sure hope so, but do they?

Trust is the cornerstone of any relationship, even ones in business. Perhaps now is the perfect time to dust off your trust meter. In a world riddled with conflict, where we are bombarded with information flying at us so fast from every angle that it makes our heads spin, the seriousness of the question is truly undeniable for any leader.

If trust is at the foundation of every solid relationship and organizations are built on relationships, then it would be fair to infer that trust is imperative for a leader to be successful, right? Yet, I do not see many leaders measuring trust on their teams. They measure attendance and goals and objectives, but not trust. I bet they would be surprised (and not in a good way) if they did. In fact, data compared over a 40 year time span in the US shows a significant decline in how much people trust each other. The General Social Survey first asked the question in 1972, and at the time, recorded that only 50% of the population was trusting of others. In 2013, a different poll on trust reflected that respondents felt only one-third of people can be trusted. Would the results be similar today on your team?

Trust matter s.

Why does the question “does your team trust you and each other” matter? Here are three compelling reasons for leaders to consider: additional studies which prove that teams who trust you and each other are happier going to work, are more productive, and get better results. Could a lack of trust on your team be the reason you are not experiencing the magnitude of success you truly believe is possible? From my experience working with teams in all sectors of the business world, the answer is YES. There is a very good chance a lack of trust may be inhibiting your team’s ability to succeed as planned.

“If trust is at the foundation

of every solid relationship,

and organizations are built on relationships, then it would be fair to infer that trust is imperative for a leader to be successful, right?”

Is trust alone the cause of a team’s results? Absolutely not! But without a solid foundation of multilateral trust, no other improvement you make will stick over the long run.

There is no process or performance metric that you can implement that will make a profound positive impact to your business if trust is lacking on your team. Sure you may get spurts of improvement, but they won’t be sustainable.

A lack of trust weakens the very foundation of your organization. It might start small and go undetected at first, showing up as tiny fissures that cause instability among your teams. These tiny fissures are always possible, but when a lack of trust does creep in, it causes a magnified, shattered glass effect that ultimately spreads far and wide across your entire organization, from one team to another, impacting every facet of your business.

This brings us back full circle to the original question: does your team trust you and each other? Do they have good reason to trust, or not trust, you and each other? Are there tiny fissures in the foundation of your team caused by a lack of trust that are hard to see, but slowly spreading like cracked glass?

Know, like,

and then trust.

How to Build and Nurture Trust

Trust on a t eam must be nurtured. In any business, leaders sometimes mistakenly believe that with each promotion comes a new business card that says, ‘now you should trust me’. And that is just not so. There has been a saying used for years in the world of sales. People buy from people they know, like and trust. How is this relevant to leadership, teams and getting results? There is gold in that saying. The golden nugget is where the word trust is placed. Know, like and then trust. The word trust comes last. Improving the levels of trust between you and your team members, and them with each other, begs you to consider addressing the ‘know and like” part of the sequence first. Here are some strategies:

Lead By Example

Get to ‘know’ each of your employees and let them get to know you. You will then be modelling the behavior you expect them to engage in with each other.

Be Likable

2018 Research by McAlister, Moss and Martinko has shown satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, well-being and performance was higher in employees/subordinates who liked their bosses. Just because your employees like you does not mean they will automatically trust you, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Use the Know, Like, and Then Trust Equation

Though there is no business card or magic pill for building trust, we can use the ‘know, like and then trust’ equation as a guide. Here are three ways you, as a leader, can immediately begin to build, and strengthen the levels of trust on your team.

1. Purposefully create opportunities to grow and nurture relationships. Getting to know others better is the first step to building trust.

One-to-one conversations with each of your team members. Tell them you want to get to know them better so that the team can grow stronger (but please make sure you really do want to…it will be very apparent if you don’t). Be the first to share about yourself. Don’t expect them to begin to share as openly initially and don’t force it. And if they do share…listen carefully!

One-to-one conversations among your team members. Give them thought provoking questions to ask each other that will encourage conversation. Be sure to clearly communicate your expectation of how many, how often and by when these conversations should occur and then follow up to hear how the conversations are going. Look for personality assessments that boost self-awareness, where team members can identify their own dominant traits (extroverted vs introverted; or skeptical vs. accepting, for example.) I am an award winning authorized partner for Wiley, Inc and have been providing Everything DiSC assessments for 20 years. I am here to guide you on the best assessment to help your team build more trust. Then encourage your team to talk about their results, and how their unique differences impact their ability to work together, support each other, and achieve results together.

2. Carefully consider your verbal and non-verbal communications. We all know how fragile words can be. In order to hold any weight at all, a leader’s words must be reinforced by consistent actions over time. Are you walking your own talk? Research has shown repeatedly that a combination of your words, tone of voice, and body language determine if someone will trust you. Are your words, tone and actions consistent?

3. Intentionally practice adjusting your ‘style’ when interacting with members of your team. Your communication style matters in relationships. Team members are often more comfortable with people who have the same communication style as them. Learn how to adjust yours first so they will feel more comfortable with you. When they are more comfortable with you, it will be easier for you to get to know them. Knowing about communication styles is imperative as a leader.

Use the thre e simple steps above to begin mastering the ‘know, like and then trust’ equation with your team. If done consistently by you and each of your team members, it will undoubtedly lead to greater levels of trust as well as increased employee engagement, increased productivity and better business outcomes.

More About Kiki Orski

Kiki has over 20 years of experience coaching and training leaders to achieve exceptional results by improving workplace relationships and transforming business practice. Over the years Kiki has worked with organizations big and small, private and public, union and non-union…and she says they all have one thing in common...everything starts and stops with leadership. It’s why she loves working with senior executive teams on change initiatives, and why she’s often heard saying, “she doesn't care how smart you are if you cannot work with others.” Currently, Kiki is working diligently on finishing her second book, "Smash the Silos,” which is set to publish by Spring 2022.

To learn more about how Kiki and her team can help you navigate change and thrive, visit Peak Performance Consulting , and connect with her directly on LinkedIn.

5 Coaching Tips for Business Leaders

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 06:32:59 GMT

We all know remote work is here to stay — and the short story is — it’s different . There are so many WFH benefits for every worker at every level, from the c-suite to the call-center. Everyone wants the flexibility for themselves. But for hybrid and remote teams, there are just as many challenging adjustments.

How are managers leading teams and creating trusted experiences in the age of hybrid meetings and multi-factor authentication? There’s new research every day, with data, findings, and best practices from across the globe.

In workplaces undergoing transition, where the culture is shifting to long-term remote and hybrid work, managers can take a coach approach to build authentic relationships with distributed team members.

What makes it coaching? You set your focus on educating, motivating, and supporting your direct reports. It’s a mindset shift. You’re moving to a headspace that’s less authoritative to build relationships that are more collaborative, more mindful, and more trusting. It’s an approach where team dynamics improve — and for managers, there’s less pressure to know all the answers during uncertain times. Teams analyze, solve challenges, and reach goals together.

Here are 5 Tips for Leaders:

1 - Get Comfortable with Vulnerability

Vulnerable is a word that makes people nervous, but really we’re talking about having authentic dialogue whether you’re interacting in person, in writing, or on a zoom session. Talk about times in your own career where you struggled to solve a problem, needed to learn something new, or made a bad call. When you’re on the fence about a decision, discuss it with your team, and weigh the pros and cons. You’re human. Loosening up builds rapport, deepens communication, and leads to trust (even from a distance.)

2 - Create Ownership

Instead of giving step-by-step directives, create a sense of ownership. Present the desired business outcome or goal, and then let team members identify and analyze strategy, action plan, and timeframe.

For example, the Company might want to decrease the amount of costly warranty claims for a particular product. There’s at least 10 different ways to approach the problem, and each approach has unique obstacles and benefits. You might focus on quality and workmanship. Or you might focus on warranty terms and conditions. Guide your team through problem-analysis and solution design; sponsor the project; and support them with needed resources to execute the strategy they designed.

3 - Think like a Beginner

When you’re an expert on something, it’s easy to lose sight of complexity. You’re able to analyze, improvise, and take action in a way that looks effortless to a novice or beginner. You can cross your fingers and hope the onlookers learn by osmosis. Or you can ditch your fear of patronizing and break things down. Simplify abstract concepts, explain decisions, and give your rationale. Is there more than one approach that would work? Have you tried a different method in the past? Do you know (from experience) why something was designed a certain way? Share “101” information, nuances, history, and wisdom with your team.

4 - Prioritize Balance

In the world of work, a lot has changed in a short time span. There are more companies offering flex schedules than any other time in history, and as the lines between home and the office permanently blur , there’s burnout, zoom-fatigue, and isolation to contend with. Support teams by protecting work-life balance. Have open conversations about wellbeing, communication preferences, digital overload, stress reduction, working smarter, response time, and sense of urgency (because everything can’t be urgent.) Share the strategies that work for you, and ask your team about their triggers and preferences.

5 - Recognition

There are so many reasons to recognize employees for a job well done— but rounding everyone up for a celebratory lunch - or even a cup of coffee - isn’t easy or possible when teams are hybrid or global. Find ways to show team members you see their efforts and value their contributions. Look for positive reinforcement opportunities at every scale — when someone keeps their cool in a high-stress situation, AND when someone spearheads a program that grabs the attention of executives. Send digital shoutouts, handwritten notes, and digital rewards like the ones we’ve curated here . Keep in mind that everyone has unique capabilities; everyone is motivated by different factors; and everyone has their own definition of success. When you take a coach approach, it’s your job to discover what matters most to individuals and reward performance in ways they find motivating.

Elevate your strategy with Nielsen Associates.
Make an outstanding impression on candidates from the start with Nielsen Associates. Request a free consultation with a recruiter to learn more about our range of services.

How to Activate Hard and Soft Skills to Succeed

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 09:25:01 GMT

We’re excited to begin 2022 with guest blogger, Regina Miller. Regina is the Co-Founder of Culture-rific , a boutique leadership and culture consulting company that works with people and organizations to implement lasting change. They offer professional development and coaching programs focused on leadership, resiliency and well-being.

Regina is a senior executive coach, facilitator, and business consultant with more than twenty-five years of proven success and experience in Organization and Leadership Development.

She’s held senior and executive roles in large enterprises and startups; and she has worked for and consulted to large enterprises in a wide variety of industries and sectors including MetLife, Nokia, Banana Republic, Rackspace, Coach, Thomson Reuters, and Fujitsu, to name a few.

With so much knowledge and experience, we wanted to get her perspective and share it with you.

Specifically, we wanted to have an honest conversation about leadership - what the struggles are in hybrid and remote workplaces - and why skilled leadership is more critical now. Here’s what Regina shared on leading during uncertainty and unprecedented change.

When You Feel Like the Sky is Falling, Look Up, Across, and Inward

A Conversation with Leadership Expert,

Regina Miller

What are managers struggling with at the current moment?

RM: What I see mostly right now with my clients is a state of overwhelm. I’m talking about skilled, savvy, competent, highly-regarded managers at all levels who are struggling to deal with the sheer magnitude of work, objectives, change, increasing expectations, and deliverables. I see managers who are not being given the resources – people, budgets, technology -- to be successful. I see managers who are expected to jump back in as technical experts to not miss deliverables. I see managers who are fearful to say “NO” because if they do, their career reputations will be tarnished, and their competence questioned. I see managers who are burned out and looking for new opportunities. Surely, rock, hard place for managers today.

What’s causing the struggle— what has changed, increased, since when? What’s going on out there?

RM: Even though the pandemic is still here, we are operating in a post-pandemic workplace. The workplace is hybrid; and there are unrelenting world pressures and demands. The outside has a tremendous impact on the inside. With supply chain issues and the great resignation, supply and demand of raw materials and talent is at risk. Nearly 12% of workers have quit since April 2020; and 95% of workers are currently considering changing jobs. The biggest group is mid-level employees, ages 30 to 45. ( Britt Andreatta, The Great Resignation is Quickly Becoming The Great Revolt: 5 Actions Leaders Should Take Now . )

Meaningful missions, with leadership and people who care, bring greater workplace resilience and satisfaction. Although, when people are pushed to their absolute limits, missions become less meaningful, and people start to care less, they burn-out, they leave. Every organization feels the same pain, but it manifests differently. Organizations must assess the impact of these new dilemmas and address emerging needs pro-actively by asking people to speak up, get involved in reworking business processes, and improving interdepartmental collaboration.

The pressures, stress, and lack of empathy and recognition in the workplace have led to workers burning out. Many of the executives I coach recognize this, and ASK their teams how they are feeling, and remind them to take their leave. And even more importantly, they strategically demonstrate balancing their own work/life harmony goals. At the same time, I coach many others who are afraid to ask how their people feel as they do not feel equipped to handle the range of feedback and emotional reactions, especially when they do not have the support of upper leadership. And yet, according to resilience expert Dr. Deborah Gilboa , “Everybody keeps saying that empathy is really going to strengthen employees. However, you can't have empathy for someone if you never give them the opportunity to express their feelings.”

So, managers have to ask, and have to make it safe for people to speak up; and they have to be brave enough to do something about what they hear. The pandemic created an interruption in how we live, work and exist in the world. It’s now everyone's responsibility to interrupt business as usual and seek opportunities for honest, authentic conversation.

“When people are pushed to their absolute limits, missions become less meaningful, and people start to care less, they burn-out, they leave.”

Can you share any real and practical strategies that have been effective?

RM: In one of my client organizations, there are two initiatives that seek to build resilience and create opportunities for honest and authentic conversations.

1) Resilience Missions

As part of an ongoing Leadership Development initiative, senior leaders take on three 90-day individual resilience missions and work with an executive coach to build skills in this area. This program is proving effective because the leaders realize that if they do not practice resilience strategies and approaches, they cannot be an effective leader of others.

2) Mastermind Sessions

As part of an ongoing Supervisory Development initiative, new and experienced supervisors in the same organization come together using a mastermind model to address their issues and concerns. They openly share advice, experiences, ideas, approaches and best practices to deal with tough problems and challenges that they’re facing or might encounter. They learn from each other, support each other’s development, and build in accountability goals. This program is proving effective because it subtly and overtly creates a level of empathy and trust among supervisors who lead different functions in the same organization.

What are the skills today’s managers need to be successful in these messy times?

RM:

Manage 360:

Hone the ability to influence and manage up, sideways and direct reports. And here’s why: problem solving and critical thinking around where there are gaps in the process-- and getting them fixed-- are what workplaces need right now.

Step back to identify rationally what the key problem areas are. For example, if there is an inability to fill vacancies on your team quickly, report the issues as a leadership alert using data and analysis. Discuss implications on customers, morale, overtime, etc. Develop relationships with internal service providers to understand clarity of roles, expectations, and timelines for hiring. In short, take ownership. Then step back, and reset yourself so that you can address the issues organizationally, with influence and assertiveness.

Resilience:

At the same time, get a grip on your own level of overwhelm. What are you doing to support physical, spiritual, psychological and community well-being? What are you doing to manage your own level of resilience at work? Without this step, you may be facing an uphill drive with no gas in your tank. Breathing, meditating, exercising, sleeping, and eating correctly are all answers to the resilience puzzle.

The Ability to Say No:

You can’t expect your leadership to prioritize things for you. Or can you?

When everything is urgent, can you “manage up,” and give your boss a list of what YOUR priorities are, and what you are doing to achieve them? And therefore, what is downshifting on the priority list as result? How can you bring a level of reality to the conversation? Managing up is something you will have to gauge – it’s the skill of influence; and it’s a skill every manager will need to get good at. Start now.

If it is not a culture where you feel like you can manage up, how else might you seek relief from the barrage of scope creep, constantly changing priorities, and job overwhelm? Managing up is an easier strategy than blatantly saying “NO – that’s not going to happen!” Along with the ability to say no is the ability to let go of your own perfectionism. Perfectionism comes at a huge price for managers.

What are the skills workers need to be successful?

RM: Everything we’ve touched on—resilience, the ability to self-regulate, self-awareness, the ability to say no, and managing up and across - are all rooted in soft skills.

Yet, in a recent study from the Hay Group, 69% of recent grads in India, the US, and China believe soft skills get in the way of doing their job. On the flip side, 90% of the business leaders polled believe soft skills lead to great commercial impact, and 91% of business leaders believe employees with refined soft skills advance faster. ( Daniel Goleman, Help Young Talent Develop a Professional Mindset )

There is this disconnect between the skills that workers think they need to have and what managers are looking for. Clear communication and realistically challenging expectations are what is going to bridge this gap.

Managers, be honest about skills needed for success. Help your employees know what specifically it takes to get the highest rating. If that means you must write a manifesto about what a Level 5 Superstar rating looks and sounds like, then do it.

“Resilience, the ability to self-regulate,

self-awareness,

the ability to say no,

and managing up and across - are all rooted in soft skills.”

Can you share your perspective on ‘the great resignation’ and how it’s affecting work environments?

RM: Since COVID, certain industries are seeing fewer people returning to work. The workers that do return are being asked to do a lot more, with less. Entire organizations are being re-worked, and, to link this all to the idea of managing up, everyone’s superiors are being flooded as well.

Everything is changing. Senior leadership is not bad. They, too, are just trying to get it all done. When everyone is spread too thin- from the top down- it’s even more difficult for leaders to have visibility on issues in the ranks, especially with a workforce that might be still developing the emotional intelligence needed in today’s climate. It’s another reason why managers need to actively seek clarity by managing stakeholders and customers sideways. Managing your directs can only provide so much. You are their top cover.

The formula is this:

Soft skills (like empathy and self-awareness) help you identify the problems and what you can contribute to the solution.
Technical skills and data allow you to carve out the path.
The soft skills of resilience and emotional intelligence is what you’ll need to travel the path and maintain endurance.

More about Regina Miller

In addition to working in a variety of business sectors, Regina has also partnered with the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, USAID, the Intelligence Community, and the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission to design and facilitate ongoing leadership development and executive coaching initiatives. Most recently she has been coaching executive coaches to build individual and client resilience.

Regina understands and has deep respect for the challenges and joys that leadership brings. She has a passion for working with executives and leaders at all levels who want to create a positive culture; she is goal and results-oriented; and she’s a firm believer in ensuring that insights are followed-up with action so that behavior-change can happen.

To learn more about Regina, connect with her on LinkedIn ; and visit Culture-rific to learn how she and her team can help you master leadership challenges and achieve more.

YOU are Amazing

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 06:15:01 GMT

The Business Bonuses of Gratitude

It’s more than a feeling. Employee recognition and appreciation are major drivers of overall job satisfaction, motivation, and productivity. How do we know? Let’s start with some numbers; and then we’ll dive in to why c ompanies need more of it.

53% of employees said they would stay at their jobs longer if their employers showed them more appreciation.

Source: OC Tanner

In a McKinsey survey on motivation, here’s what really works according to employees:

67% are motivated by manager praise
63% are motivated by attention from leaders
62% are motivated by opportunities to lead
60% are motivated by cash bonuses
52% are motivated by pay increases
35% are motivated by stock options

Source: McKinsey

It’s who you are as an employer.

Well-executed recognition programs create a high performance culture. Employees are more motivated and productive because they know high performance has good consequences. Their efforts are seen, acknowledged, celebrated and rewarded; and it happens consistently.

Another benefit? Recognition is fun. If you want to foster a positive work environment, rewards programs and seasonal gifts are worth the energy. Both are culture strategies where you’re thanking your team beyond payroll compensation. It’s an “extra” that generates buzz and sparks discussion. Suddenly you’ve got team members actively chatting about an awesome aspect of your culture. It’s a natural way to create a sense of belonging and inclusion , and it’s exactly the kind of conversation you want teams and peers to have, whether they work onsite or remote.

And it’s a customer strategy.

Better employee experiences result in better customer experiences, and there’s plenty of data that supports the correlation. OC Tanner reported that employees are 18x more likely to produce great work if they are recognized. And the Josh Bersin company recently found that companies who are leveraging the right EX strategies , including appreciation, recognition and rewards, are seeing real business outcomes. They’re 2.2x more likely to reach financial targets, and 2.4x more likely to delight customers.

How to Design an Awesome

Employee Recognition Program

Begin with Objectives and Goals.

Why do you have a recognition program; or why do you want to start one? Identify the goals that matter to your company. Are you trying to improve retention? Are you giving your culture an energy boost? Are you trying to improve motivation and productivity?

It’s tempting to say yes to all of the above, but when you begin with primary strategic objectives, it’s easier to decide program specifications so that you can design a system of recognition moments and appropriate rewards.

For example, if your goal is to improve customer satisfaction, you might reward employees who consistently receive positive customer feedback scores for a designated timeframe. And, corporate managers would coach and reward innovation teams who effectively implement customer experience strategies. Get specific!

Listen, because you care.

Whether you’re designing a new recognition program from the ground up or managing an existing one, get insight from a cross-section of employees. Tools like MoodTracker from Workhuman allow organizations to gauge employees’ feelings, understand their workforce better, and implement the right strategies to improve culture and employee engagement.

Make it universal.

There are so many opportunities to recognize and reward employees. Think beyond length-of-service awards, employee of the month, and year-end celebrations. Everyday recognition (such as peer-to-peer, which is meant for everyone) has the biggest overall impact. In its simplest form, this might be a digital thank you note sent via email, or a shout out on the team’s slack channel. Your program should also handle informal recognition (such as manager-to-team), and formal recognition (employer-to-employees.) Build in the ability to recognize individuals and groups, privately and publicly. Think flexible and scalable.

Handle the complexity with technology.

Cloud-based performance recognition platforms like OC Tanner and WorkHuman offer an instant technology infrastructure for your program; and they can be customized to meet the needs of your enterprise or small-to-medium business. If your leadership team needs convincing on the technology spend, focus on the benefits. Technology platforms ensure consistency and fairness; they help to remove bias and promote inclusion in your organization; they offer tracking and data-insights; and they’re easy to scale.

Make it meaningful.

Never underestimate the importance of the human touch whenever you’re expressing gratitude or appreciation, especially if you’re managing everything with technology. Remember — recognition is behavioral feedback and reinforcement. For continuous improvement and high performance, the “why” is important. When employees understand why and how they’re helping the company achieve strategic goals, there’s a greater sense of accomplishment and commitment going forward. Give specific, personal feedback frequently to individuals and groups.

Reward Ideas for Remote Teams

If you’re team is hybrid or remote, it’s probably more challenging than ever to round everyone up for a celebratory lunch. Here are some alternative ways to thank employees, with more flexibility, and less calories:

Events and Experiences

Give remote workers a break from their home-office with tickets to live events. Sites like TicketMaster and Broadway.com sell gift cards in bulk. Employees are able to select from live entertainment and sporting events at a location and time they prefer.

Personal Growth

Encourage team members to nurture their personal passions and promote work-life balance with Masterclass. Employees can choose from hundreds of courses with celebrity instructors - think songwriting with Mariah Carey, writing with Judy Blume, and see a softer side of Gordon Ramsey when he teaches cooking. Masterclass At Work lets you keep the focus on business. Teams can take professional development classes with today’s brightest thought leaders.

Tons of Choice

Knest makes one-to-many gifting easy and personalized. Create an account, select one or more gifts at the price point you prefer, customize your Knest page, and then invite team members, clients, or anyone who you’re gifting. Recipients select the gift they prefer then enter their shipping info, in a simple interactive process.

References:

The Definitive Guide: Employee Experience | The Josh Bersin Company

https://www.octanner.com

https://www.workhuman.com

Fill open positions fast with Nielsen Associates.
Our recruiters are industry experts and we have a deep network of talent. We can quickly present highly qualified candidates for any Marketing , Human Resources , or Finance & Accounting role. Request a free consultation with a recruiter to learn more about our range of services.

Recruiter Spotlight: Dorian Caccamo

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 10:43:02 GMT

Meet Dorian Caccamo, Executive Marketing and Sales Recruiter

Dorian joined Nielsen Associates in January 2021, bringing more than five years of recruiting experience to our team. She was a corporate HR practitioner before transitioning to Executive Search, so she understands the sense of urgency to fill an opening quickly AND the importance of making sure skills are aligned with job requirements. Dorian takes a service-oriented approach to balance competing priorities and client needs.

Dorian says her decision to join Nielsen Associates has been life-changing. She’s earning more, enjoying greater work-life balance, plus she’s mastering her niche industry with a variety of challenging Marketing and Sales openings to recruit for. Making the transition from corporate to an agency was intimidating at first, “but I see I can do it, especially in an environment with a supportive team.”

We asked Dorian a few questions to get her perspective on the state of the employment market. Check out our interview for her advice, and connect with her directly on LinkedIn.

LB: It’s amazing you have made a life-changing career move! What do you love most about being a recruiter?

Dorian: When I connect a client with a candidate and there’s a great fit, I’m solving a problem, and I make people happy. It’s an accomplishment that feels good. I enjoy recruiting for clients who are employee-centric; where there’s a goal for new hires and a true onboarding process .

LB: It’s not always easy to find a great fit. What’s the most challenging part of working with both parties?

Dorian: Sometimes both parties can be way off when it comes to salary expectations, and there’s a need to educate both the client and the candidate on the reality of the current market. My role is challenging because I act in the best interest of both. Sometimes they may not want to hear my advice. I am always honest; it’s the only way to be in this business. In the end, having an objective opinion will always make the outcome more successful.

LB: What are some of the challenges recruiters, employers, and candidates are facing now?

Dorian: To begin with, there are less candidates looking for work; and most want the flexibility to work remotely. But many employers aren’t offering a remote option to new hires, and many do not know how to properly onboard new employees, especially remotely. But it’s about more than remote work. People are considering the culture of the company, the environment, the compensation package: PTO, 401(k), medical benefits, and extra perks like summer Fridays. It is not always about the salary. Employees want to know they can really grow with a company; that there is a plan for them.

LB: What type of strategies would you recommend to companies who are feeling the effects of the Great Resignation?

Dorian: Communication is the key to everything. If you do not communicate with your employees, you will not know what’s pressing them to make the choice to leave. Be proactive and connect before they resign.

LB: What advice can you give employers who want to fill long-term positions?

Dorian: You can make a big impression during recruiting and hiring. Make an offer candidates cannot refuse, which includes not only compensation but a focus on career growth and a positive work environment. Be honest about your expectations before their first day.

LB: What are the top 3 competencies that make a marketing candidate outstanding?

Dorian: Communication skills, digital fluency, and analytical skills are important for success in any marketing role.

LB: Making a career move can be stressful. What advice you would give to someone who’s going through the uncertainty of it?

Dorian: This is your time. Seriously consider what is important to you. Think about your career and your lifestyle. Ask for what you really need and want.

LB: Why should companies consider Nielsen Associates when they have marketing openings?

We pre-screen thoroughly to identify qualified candidates and present candidates quickly because of the relationships we have with our network. Our clients can rely on us to be an extension of their employer brand , giving candidates a good experience through trust and honesty. When there’s a challenging role to fill, we take the time to understand why the position is open and the challenges the clients have faced. We learn about their business needs and their culture. Request a free consultation to learn more about our hands-on, consultive approach to recruiting.

Making the Case for EXcellence

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 01:10:02 GMT

Imagine you could poll workers to find out what they really think, and you asked them this true or false question.

Most likely, the majority of respondents would unanimously agree both of these statements are true; except (perhaps) for a small percentage who actually admit they thrive on toxic drama.

True or false?

When you like what you do for a living,

you’re a happier human.

And —

No one wants to work in a toxic workplace.

It's a no-brainer, isn't it?

So the responses to your poll wouldn’t be too surprising: We know for sure workers at every level want to be happy. But what IS surprising are the stories we hear about companies who have no formal employee experience (EX) strategy. The rationale may sound something like this:

“There’s no budget for culture enhancements.

Whenever we invest in people, they end up quitting.

Our turnover rate is a little high, but it always has been.

We’re used to it.”

Then there’s the equally surprising stats which offer a more official account of what’s really going on inside offices everywhere:

“Over 46% of younger workers now say they feel stressed “all the time,” and almost half state that their employer “did nothing” to help them.” - Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and G en Z S urvey

“80% of workers ranked wellbeing as a top trend, identifying it as important or very important to their organization’s success.” -2020 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends

“Nearly a quarter of workers feel their employer has personally discriminated against them. And one in five feel personally discriminated against “all the time” because of some aspect of their background.” -The Josh Bersin Company 2021

“37% of workers are thinking of leaving their jobs or are already preparing to make the move.” -Yahoo Finance 2021

Getting Buy-in

One reason Employee Experience (EX) hasn’t gained traction at many companies has to do with perception. EX is about more than fun perks and catered lunch; and it’s much broader than employee engagement. Over time, EX has matured into a cross-functional business strategy that shapes how workers holistically experience a company. EX is the what, why, who, and how of work across an entire organization. When the right EX strategies are in place, there are REAL business outcomes and everything improves - from your ability to attract and retain talent, to customer satisfaction. In a volatile and uncertain marketplace, EX strategies improve an organization’s ability to adapt, innovate, and thrive.

If your leadership team

could use some convincing,

here are business outcomes that illustrate why EXcellence is important.

So what exactly is EX?

Is it a tech strategy? Yes.

Is it an HR strategy? It sure is.

Is it an employee strategy? Definitely.

Is it a customer strategy? Without a doubt.

Employee Experience is far too big to cover comprehensively in a single blog article. It encompasses the work we do, and how we do it. But it's also about the teams we work on; our direct managers and how they coach and support us; our health and wellbeing; the digital, physical, and cultural workplace; how we grow and develop; and how much we trust the organization that we work for. EX is an organizational design strategy that puts employees at the center.

EX Strategy Maturity

The more robust and mature your EX strategy is, the greater the ROI. If you’re just starting out, you may begin with visible initiatives that clearly show employees they matter. These are culture strategies that are hard to miss - for example catered lunch at the quarterly meeting, or a holiday gift in December.

Companies who want to see greater ROI often put more pervasive EX strategies in place that are felt during all stages of the employee life cycle— from the very first touchpoint during recruiting, to the onboarding experience, to performance management, career development, leadership succession, and retirement.

The most advanced EX strategies are supported by a technology infrastructure that provides a consumer-grade, seamless experience for employees. This means there’s a flexible enterprise system in place where it’s easy to process all kinds of transactions, collaborate, access information, and be productive and effective. Advanced people analytics and real-time data insights empower business leaders to make relevant business decisions.

Creating the Irresistible Organization

So where do you stand; how do you cut through the noise; and where should you focus first?

Josh Bersin and Deloitte have done significant work to define what EX really means, why EX matters so much, and how to achieve EXcellence in a post-pandemic workplace and labor market that’s disrupted and extremely competitive. (New jobs are being created at a record rate, remote work is now standard, and demand for labor is explosive. According to EMSI, there are 24% more jobs in the US than there were a year ago.) Here are some of their discoveries, key insights, and a framework for EX that organizations can adapt:

The EX framework includes 6 Key focal points, with technology and services as the core foundation.

1. Meaningful Work

What it looks like:

Job and values fit
Autonomy and agency
Agile teams
Supportive co-workers
Time to focus, innovate and recover

2. Strong Management

What it looks like:

Clear goals with stretch opportunity
Regular coaching and feedback
Focus on management development
Transparent, simple performance management

3. Positive Workplace Culture

What it looks like:

Tools, processes and systems to get work done productively
Appreciation, recognition, and rewards
Flexible hours and workplace
Inclusive and diverse
Sense of belonging and community

4. Health and Wellbeing

What it looks like:

Safety and security in all aspects of work
Personal fitness, health and wellbeing support
Psychological and emotional wellbeing and support
Family and financial support

5. Growth Opportunities

What it looks like:

Open, facilitated job and role mobility
Career growth in multiple paths
Many forms of learning as needed in a culture that supports learning

6. Organizational Trust

What it looks like:

Mission and purpose beyond financial goals
Transparency, empathy, and integrity of leadership
Continuous investment in people
Focus on society, environment and community

Trust, inclusion, transparency, and caring make the biggest impact. According to Bersin, transparency, mission and purpose beyond financial goals, integrity of leadership, and a continuous investment in people make the biggest EX impact.

Wellbeing is growing up really fast. Companies are now going further than healthcare benefits to design everything with wellbeing in mind, including operational policies and business processes. Conversations have reached far beyond workplace safety to encompass topics like burnout, digital and communication overload, mental health, zoom fatigue, work-life balance, and mindfulness.

Data insights and employee feedback are a big area of opportunity. Research shows a critical part of EX is listening - which in volves asking for employee feedback and collecting real business data — and then paying attention. Yet only 11% of organizations said they were able to produce information on their workforce in real time, and 3 in 5 companies don’t currently use advanced people analytics to inform business decisions. Most companies have feedback surveys and engagement data floating all over the place. It’s vital to collect, centralize and consolidate data in order to extract meaningful insights from it.

Helpful Resources:

We’ll dive deeper to explore what it takes to design an irresistible organization in the coming months. In the meantime, be sure to check out this list of Employee Experience references, resources, and experts.

2020 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends
A call for accountability and action : THE DELOITTE GLOBAL 2021 MILLENNIAL AND GEN Z SURVEY
The Definitive Guide: Employee Experience | The Josh Bersin Company
Jacob Morgan, The Employee Experience Advantage

Lessons from a New Hire Nightmare

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 05:45:19 GMT

Our October guest blogger is Nicole Craveiro, an experienced, Corporate HR Manager who has a personal story to share about being a new hire at a company where the corporate culture was toxic.

Nicole accepted an HR leadership role she was excited about at the height of COVID; and she was ready to roll up her sleeves and work hard to inspire and implement positive changes during the crisis.

But within a short time, Nicole resigned from her position abruptly. Her story illustrates how important it is to design employee experiences strategically, beginning with recruiting and onboarding.

Here's what happened to Nicole, and the lessons she experienced first hand:

My very first day on the job, I overheard the owners screaming at each other in the office next to mine. A colleague who had been with the company long-term told me not to worry about it because “ it was the norm around here.” I was worried. This was not the welcoming, congenial working environment I was told to expect.

During my interview, we discussed that I may eventually be Supervising the HR Ge neralist, but I was then given Supervisory responsibilities during my first week. I quickly realized that my direct report had been a loyal employee of the company for over 20 years. They were just as qualified and capable at managing the HR functions as I was. They were overwhelmed with their level of responsibility and asked for help; but in return, they were given another boss (me). And I was instructed not to take any responsibilities off their shoulders. The red flags that popped up almost immediately were just the tip of the iceberg on what was to come.

Lesson #1:

When interviewing a potential candidate, transparency in what the role entails is key. Set accurate expectations or expect failure.

Right off the bat, I was instructed to “question everything." When I noticed or was presented with HR issues, I provided possible reasonable solutions for improvement. Whenever I offered guidance that didn’t have an apparent dollar value impact on their bottom line, there was an unusual level of pushback, and I was left wondering why I was hired. Distressed, it steadily became clear the business owners, who I interviewed with, weren’t open to the changes their employees so desperately wanted. They were going to make the same decisions regardless of recommendations, and I was expected to act as a shield between them and their team.

Lesson #2:

Hire people who have similar management philosophies that are aligned with corporate values and then trust them to do what you hired them to do. You hire qualified talent for a reason. Trust their expertise.

Lesson #3:

It is important to remember that your employees are your greatest asset. If you don’t treat them as such, they will find someone who will.

I was screeched at during a conversation with an owner and manager where we discussed an email in which I identified the misclassification and below-market-average wage of an employee. I was told my perspective was baseless. Following our call, the owner proceeded to ignore my advice, and respond to the email chain, looping in the employee, in which they were informed that their position doesn’t require any specialized knowledge or skill; therefore he didn’t deserve higher compensation. This employee didn’t even bring forth concerns about their compensation – I did! This obviously had a negative impact on the employee’s morale AND it exposed us a divided leadership team.

I was responsible for recruiting new talent, and excited about the opportunity to source potential candidates. But my excitement deflated when I realized I would be putting on a façade. I was tasked with sending a company-wide communication requesting Glassdoor reviews to improve our rating. The responses raised many concerns. In attempting to address them, I was met with excuses, blame, and sometimes even denial that the problem even existed. I realized that although the picture painted during my interview was that the employees were resistant to change; in reality, they were screaming for it! And for good reason.

Lesson #4:

Be proactive, not reactive.

Lesson #5:

One of the “Golden Rules” in HR is that, unless there is an accommodation request or an essential job function requires otherwise, what you do for one, you should do for all – and do it consistently.

It was uncomfortable posting job descriptions with promises of work-life balance, competitive compensation and benefits, teamwork, and valuing employees, and it felt unethical to be expecting people to make major life changes, on false pretenses. Work-life balance means different things to different people, and has taken on a new meaning since the pandemic. Limiting your employees to a standard 40-hour work week may not have the same value it once did. Now more than ever, prospective employees appreciate the flexibility to work from home and flexible schedules in order to better attend to personal matters while still accomplishing work goals. Touting flexibility to attract new hires and not following through on it is not cool; and even worse, is when some employees have the ability to work from home, and the rules on who gets to enjoy this flexibility vary based on manager preference.

One of my first major initiatives, which in retrospect ended up being my last, was planning a return-to-office strategy for a department who had been working remotely so they could rejoin the other departments who were working onsite. When tossing around ideas for the requirements that we would put in place, I reminded decision makers at the company that they recently posted an article on LinkedIn titled, Google's 3-Word Plan for Returning to Work Is the Best I've Ever Seen | Inc.com.

Those 3 words were “Flexibility and Choice”, and we should practice what we preach.

I was told, “Google isn’t our competitor.”

Lesson #6:

Don't talk about it, be about it.

Lesson #7:

Invest in your employees’ growth if you want them to be willing to do the same for your business.

Happy employees = more productive employees = money well spent.

Despite an overwhelming aversion from the management team and employees who had been performing successfully in a remote environment for quite some time, we moved forward with bringing them back based on a hybrid model.

I endeavored to make the transition a positive one, and suggested we order lunch from a well-liked deli during their first week back, but was ultimately told the team as a whole didn’t deserve it. Confused, I asked for a further explanation, and I was told we couldn’t order sandwiches because, “the employees who are complaining are the ones who have been here for years and never grew.’

Knowing there hadn’t been an investment on professional development in recent years, I asked if they were given the opportunity to grow; to which the answer was something along the lines of, “if they wanted to grow, they would” . Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first time I heard this sentiment during the week.

The HR Generalist and I tried to make a welcoming experience for the employees who were returning. We decorated the break room and we personally purchased welcome back bags with candy and PPE. We received tremendous positive feedback and appreciation for doing so. Although it was a success, I knew if I couldn’t get buy-in for a sandwich platter, there was no way I would be able to make a case for a real professional development program.

I am often asked by employees; “How do I know I can trust you?” I explain that, although I work as a strategic partner to management, at the end of the day, I’m an employee too, and I don’t want to work in a toxic environment either, so my intentions will always be to support the company while simultaneously improving the workplace for its team.

Lesson #8:

Believe in the power of small

tokens of appreciation.

Lesson #9:

If your employees can work from home, let them. Make the health and well-being of your team a priority.

Happy employees = more productive employees = money well spent.

My last day, (well, last half-a-day,) was the morning after our luncheon. I received a notification that an employee who partook in the office gathering was closely exposed to a COVID-positive individual. I was also advised that a prominent member of the leadership team demanded that they NOT notify anyone else unless they tested positive themselves. Luckily, the employee did the right thing.

The COO, one of the owners, and I made a plan to identify and notify the colleagues who came in close contact with the exposed employee per CDC and local guidelines. We agreed I would craft a memo outlining pertinent information, for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, to distribute to those who had prolonged contact with the suspected COVID case. It was approved by both my supervisor and the supervisor of the employee in question.

Several hours later, I received my draft back from the owner. All the relevant information that our employees were entitled to was removed, and in its place: “A vaccinated employee was exposed to a vaccinated person who tested positive. Please wear a mask to the office.” I knew this was done to avoid encouraging employees to work from home; and the ability to better micro-manage was prioritized over the health of the team. And that was it! I gathered my belongings, quickly typed up my resignation letter, citing ‘purposeful withholding of relevant information’ as the reason for my departure, hit send, and left in the middle of the day for the first time in my career.

Whenever I would question choices made along the way of my career journey, a friend of mine, Gerard Redmond, who I met back in the early days when I was a bartender, always told me, “You haven’t made the wrong move yet.” Gerard passed away last year, and this experience made me recall his words of support. I was nervous about the hit my professional reputation would take after making this decision, but members of my networks and prospective employers alike were understanding of the reasons why I did what I did; and it spoke volumes. This experience taught me that you should trust your gut instinct and never sacrifice your values for a paycheck, especially one that’s coming from an employer who doesn’t value you.

In the future, I know I will only be satisfied working with companies who are genuinely concerned about the well-being of their workforce and truly desire to make the changes needed in order to foster a competitive and thriving work environment. This is what inspired me to create my small business CraveHRO, where I partner with other small businesses in need, providing th em with outsourced HR guidance they crave - if they pass the professional vibe-check, of course.

Today, I am happily employed as an HR Manager for a Nanotechnology Firm on Long Island. The team has been welcoming and helpful. Onboarding is gradual and expectations are clear. I feel as though our values align and that Leadership genuinely respects and cares for their employees personally and has our best interests in mind. I have been on their team for 2 months now , and the feelings of dread I once had have been replaced with feelings of hope for a long and successful future as valued member of their team .

More about Nicole Craveiro:

When she isn’t working full time as a Corporate HR Manager, Nicole is the busy founder of CraveHRO, her own consultancy, which she founded because she enjoys helping organizations understand HR complexities and solve the challenges that come along with them. She helps small and medium sized businesses (who pass her professional vibe check) improve their overall working environment by providing customized strategic guidance on their HR initiatives. She has 10 years of corporate experience, her master’s degree, and PHR and SHRM-CP certifications. To learn more about her, connect with Nicole on LinkedIn.

Onboarding for Everyone

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 17:31:03 GMT

Onboarding is a retention strategy that starts before they do.

Recruit. Hire. Train. Repeat.

The turnover merry-go-round is expensive, and many mid-to-large businesses devote a lot of energy to figuring out how to stop the ride.

Retention strategies are an answer, and you can put them into play early — during recruiting and onboarding.

How expensive is turnover?

We’d love to have a statistic from the experts to answer this simply and authoritatively. But the cost is different for every company.

We’ll start with cost-per-hire (CPH,) which depends on many factors, including your industry, the seniority and skill level of an open position, and the calculator that you’re using. For example, cost-conscious companies factor in technology, advertising, and employment marketing related to each position.

Here’s the simplest formula to calculate your CPH for a position:

(internal recruiting costs + external recruiting costs)

_________________________________

number of hires

You can amplify the accuracy of CPH by getting detailed when you identify your internal and external costs. You may want to factor in:

Recruiters Compensation
Hiring Managers Compensation
Agency Fees
Technology Costs
Ads + Employment Marketing
Recruiting Accommodations, such as travel and relocation expenses
Employee Referral Bonuses + Sign-on Bonuses

Where do you stand?

If you did some calculations and you’re wondering how you stack up, SHRM published these benchmarks in 2017:

Add new-hire training costs on top of CPH, and you’ll get a real feel for how expensive talent acquisition is. And turnover (or how to retain valued employees) is why leadership teams everywhere are making company culture and employee experience top strategic priorities.

How does Turnover affect Teams?

High turnover (also known as 'churn') has a big impact inside and out. Workplaces with high turnover experience decreased productivity and lowered morale, which leads to more turnover. There’s a negative impact on internal culture, which eventually impacts quality, services, and clients. Suddenly, turnover is messing up customer experience. Whoa. Ultimately, turnover leads to customer attrition (and revenue loss.)

How does onboarding help?

Effective onboarding programs integrate (or assimilate) new employees into their role at your organization. The Association for Talent Development says onboarding “provides a fast track to meaningful, productive work and strong employee relationships.” Here are some stats:

Studies show that about 70% of employees with a structured onboarding program remain at a company for at least 3 years.

Meanwhile, only 12% of employee s feel that their employer did a great job onboarding them.

According to employees, we have work to do. One reason companies struggle to engage new hires is a dependance upon standardized programs, such as orientation and employee handbooks. It’s important to note that onboarding is not the same as new hire orientation. Let’s look at the difference.

Orientation is a standard program that every new hire needs to understand company values, vision, mission and culture. It may include compliance training, company policies, and a deep-dive on benefits and perks. It’s foundational info for everyone.

O nboarding is an individualized plan designed to help a new hire be successful and productive in their specific role .

So if it’s not orientation, what exactly is onboarding?

Well-designed, standard orientation programs are valuable. Every company should have one. They are the first component of the overall onboarding experience that you provide.

After orientation, onboarding provides a specific, individualized action plan to help a new employee strike an optimal balance of learning and relationship building more directly related to their functional role. Relevance is high. Activities during onboarding set new hires up for productivity, success, and longevity.

It begins with standard orientation, and then the focus shifts to a new hire’s specific role.

There is an emphasis on relationship building AND becoming fully productive in a realistic timeframe that balances developmental needs and speed.

Is onboarding a retention strategy? Or is it part of Employee Experience?

Yes and yes. Onboarding is a retention strategy with proven ROI, and it’s where and when employee experience begins.

If it’s individualized, how do you design an onboarding program?

To deliver a consistent and highly individualized onboarding experience, keep the focus on high level goals — relationship building, learning, and productivity — and then get granular. Many companies design comprehensive assimilation checklists. Assimilation checklists contain a detailed set of developmental strategies to help employees reach important milestones during their first 30, 60, and 90 days of employment. Checklists are first designed for universal use, and can then be tailored for a particular department or business function. When someone new starts, Hiring Managers and Human Resources partner together to create an onboarding experience that’s individually relevant.

Assimilation checklists are as unique as your organization, but here’s a small sampler of a visual framework to inspire your design.

Onboarding Goal:

Relationship Building

and beyond...

Onboarding Goal:

Learning + Productivity

and beyond...

Newly hired executives are often overlooked. But here’s why companies should go even further to onboard them:

The cost per-hire for executives is much higher, and executive roles are more critical to a company’s success. Plus, joining an organization as a new executive “from the outside” is tough. There’s pressure to make an impact fast, and many companies expect that leaders know how to self-assimilate, even though failure rates for newly hired executives are estimated at 40%. In challenging business environments, failure rates climb even higher, for example when there’s a cultural or financial crisis to address. Even in the best of circumstances, new executives have more to contend with simultaneously — more stakeholders, more to assimilate, more to assess, more politics, and challenging decision-making that impacts others.

FIVE REASONS NEW EXECUTIVES FAIL

1. They fail to build rapport and trust with staff, peers, and stakeholders.

2. Performance objectives and expectations are not clearly defined.

3. Corporate politics are an obstacle (toxic workplace.)

4. Their management philosophies and strategies are out of alignment (cultural fit.)

5. There isn’t a strategic, formal process to assimilate executives into the organization.

When designing an onboarding program for new executives, pay careful attention to proactively address and dissolve obstacles to their success. Here are some ideas:

Focus heavily on relationship-building and provide opportunities where new executives can authentically assess group dynamics, how decisions are made, and how work gets done at your company. This may involve having them sit in on meetings that are not directly related or relevant to their role.

Make everyone at your organization part of the strategy. Communicate as early possible so that existing team members can prepare, arrange meet and greets, and one-on-one conversations with stakeholders. Plan a variety of interactions where new executives can break the ice and go beyond.

Create a schedule for regular feedback sessions with human resources, the hiring manager, and a business mentor or coach throughout the executive onboarding period.

Design executive onboarding programs with empathy and wellness in mind. A career change is stressful for a myriad of reasons, particularly for new leaders. Emphasize work-life balance and stress reduction throughout the process.

The Perfect Storm for Accelerating Succession Planning

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:20:32 GMT

We’re launching a new guest blogger program; and we’re excited to introduce our first contributor, Kathy Bernhard. Our goal is to seek out the experts who have real-world experience, and invite them to share their business wisdom with you.

Kathy Bernhard is the president of her own leadership development firm, KFB Leadership Solutions . Kathy is an experienced executive coach, and helps companies design, execute, and manage strategic human resources programs.

She’s a seasoned, “hands-on” professional, experienced facilitator, and strategic business partner with deep insight on succession planning, leadership, and organizational development. Kathy is an expert who puts progressive theory into practice.

With a focus on developing future business leaders, she has successfully designed and implemented comprehensive leadership development, executive assimilation, mentoring, and succession planning programs; and she skillfully administers executive assessments, including 360° feedback. Here’s what Kathy shared on the heightened importance of succession planning:

Close your eyes and imagine a world where there was a choice of at least three “Ready Now” successors for each senior-level executive or critical position in your business. What would that be worth to your organization?

Most of you probably would have said this was a pretty tall order before March 2020, when a loud voice said “freeze,” and it seemed like everything we thought we knew about succession (and a lot of other things) suddenly shifted. I have been doing this work for many years, and we used to emphasize the HOW-TO. In today’s (almost) post-COVID world, I think it’s even more important to start with the WHY.

I wish I could tell you that if you keep reading, you’ll find the magic formula to make meaningful succession planning a reality, but unfortunately that would be a bit of an exaggeration. What I can promise is to share some thought leadership to bring you a little closer to “talent nirvana” AND prepare you to make the business case for why the stakes have been raised to make succession planning a top strategic priority, now more than ever.

Whatever you are currently doing in succession planning, trust me, it’s no longer enough. Here’s why: Once the pandemic began, everything about the critical nature of succession was suddenly magnified. It became more complex; we had more wild card variables; and a lot of organizations were struck by the very real reality that everything they thought they knew for sure about succession was suddenly no longer certain. Wherever you are right now in succession planning, whatever your starting position (including not yet doing anything at all), it’s time to make the business case to take your efforts to the next level. Succession planning is in fact another form of business continuity planning. It’s not possible to execute even the most perfect business strategy without having the right talent in the right place to make it happen. A combination of events, including the pandemic, have created a perfect storm to accelerate succession planning efforts immediately. Let’s look at each of these factors individually.

THE PERFECT STORM FOR ACCELERATING

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Implications from the Pandemic
Heightened Emphasis on DE&I
The Future of Work

Implications from the Pandemic

There are impacts on both organizations as well as individuals. While some industries have been impacted more than others, all were jolted by what “could have happened”, even if we were lucky enough to escape real damage this time. Further, some aspects of business may be gone forever; and new aspects may have emerged. How many times have you heard the word “PIVOT” in the past year and a half? Pivoting has huge implications for the talent and skills required to execute the strategy we’re suddenly pivoting to. Of course, ongoing uncertainty about strategy will continue to have implications for roles and skills needed to win in the marketplace. Some organizations learned that a critical leader never tested in a crisis wasn’t up to the challenge, may be burned out, or became ill.

For individuals, the pandemic prompted people to take stock and reflect on what they want to do with their lives; and equally important, where they want to do it from, and how much time they want to spend doing it. Understandably, many are concerned about or dealing with burnout. These factors are likely to result in more churn. People are deciding whether this is the time to make a job change. During periods of high churn, prudent organizations place even more emphasis on building internal talent rather than buying it externally, and drive succession planning deeper into the organization. This is a wise retention AND development strategy.

Whatever the specifics for your organization, succession planning must be a priority, and whatever plans are in place need to be revisited with an increased sense of urgency and acceleration. Industry leaders including Korn Ferry agree:

WHAT THE EXPERTS

ARE SAYING

As early as March 2020, Korn Ferry noted that executive succession plans are being uniquely impacted by the global uncertainty of the pandemic. They advised to:

Prioritize the most critical roles and people to keep the business solvent.

Run through business scenarios before making talent decisions but act fast.

Accept that you will need to take talent risks that might not all prove to be right and/or that conditions may change.

Adapted from: “ Executive Succession through the Lens of COVID-19 ”, Korn Ferry, March 30, 2020.

Heightened Emphasis on DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)

In May 2020, there was another seminal event with huge implications for succession planning — the myriad calls for racial justice following the killing of George Floyd, which prompted companies to evaluate diversity and inclusion practices at the urging of employees, shareholders, boards, and the general public. Suddenly, the whole ecosystem of an organization’s talent practices was under a microscope ; and businesses were expected not only to speak, but also to take concrete actions to accelerate diversity, equity, and inclusion. Again, there are huge implications for succession planning and all talent practices. How do you continue to make your pipeline and your bench even more diverse, while at the same time helping those already in the pipeline acquire new leadership skills required post-pandemic?

MORE ABOUT DE&I and SUCCESSION PLANNING

Starts at the top: Board and C-Suite.

What matters gets measured.

Comprehensive review of full talent ecosystem; starting with job descriptions, and sourcing.

How do we make sure those included in Talent Reviews and on succession inventories are more diverse than in the past?

How do we use tools like sponsorship to make sure that people other than white males are advancing on an accelerated basis?
What changes are necessary to your current Succession Planning processes to ensure this focus?

The Future of Work

Before the pandemic, we started hearing about “the future of work,” and the new skills that would be required. Suddenly businesses began weighing the value and role of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, remote/hybrid work, green jobs, climate change, etc. All these new areas are still enormous opportunities, but the pandemic’s impact on how people work and where they are working from - has huge implications for skills, especially for leaders. Suddenly, we need to develop and measure a new combination of skills that may or may not have been as important previously.

As if this isn’t enough to be concerned about, there are some traditional challenges that still must be addressed for succession planning efforts to generate real business value:

Challenge #1: Don’t fall into the trap of thinking just because you have a list of replacement names on an organization chart that you have a solid succession plan. True succession planning includes action-oriented development plans with real accountability. Future leaders must be ready to step up when the time comes. Otherwise, all you really have is a list of names.

Challenge #2: Succession planning often fails to generate value because it is nothing more than another “administrative HR project.” While HR plays a key role, accountability for results and execution of development plans must be real and rest with business leaders.

Challenge #3: “To tell or not to tell.” Each organization must decide how much candor and transparency they want as a part of their communications about succession planning. Some organizations explicitly tell people they are succession candidates, while others keep the process shrouded in secrecy. I would advocate for candor, but not absolute candor; meaning I would stop short of telling someone they are the definite successor to someone else. However, I would make it clear in every way possible that the person has a lot of career runway ahead; and with sustained high performance s/he can expect significant career progression. To go further than that runs the risk of making an implied contract, one that might not be able to be honored. Whatever the decision about transparency, the key is that it is applied in a standard way in all parts of the business.

Succession planning is an important and often a complex job. What works in one organization can be overkill in another. A good rule of thumb is to start small and only collect the minimum amount of information necessary to make a good decision. But the call to action is compelling. Wherever you are in the process, what steps can you take now to make succession planning more of a value-added competitive differentiator for your business?

More about Kathy Bernhard:

Prior to forming her own practice, KFB Leadership Solutions , Kathy held several HR Leadership positions and has served as the Director of Human Resources and Director of Organization Development for companies in a variety of industries. She has more than 30 years of corporate experience, and has served as lead facilitator and curriculum designer for Stony Brook University’s Women in STEM Leadership program. Her work on mentoring has been summarized in McKinsey & Company’s 2001 Book, “ The War for Talent ,” and she is a valued contributor on Forbes Coaches Council. To connect with Kathy, visit her on LinkedIn.

Recruiter Spotlight: Valerie Stelloh

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 02:11:30 GMT

Meet Valerie Stelloh, Executive Finance and Accounting Recruiter.

Valerie’s Talent Acquisition career began in NYC, where she spent 13 years learning and mastering recruiting in the accounting & finance space. She’s a pro with deep knowledge of her niche across all industries. In 2011, she joined Nielsen Associates on Long Island; and then took a break to pursue personal and entrepreneurial passions in the pet care industry. When the pandemic hit, and Valerie’s business was affected, she decided to make a comeback; and we are delighted that she rejoined our team in December 2020.

Valerie’s motto is, “Everything always turns out exactly the way it is supposed to.” When she isn’t recruiting, she’s busy being a rescue dog mom to Sadie. Valerie owned a dog walking and pet sitting business for eight years, and she’s still actively involved in helping animals. Her passion has been instrumental in helping pets find the care and families that they need.

We asked Valerie a few questions so that you can get to know her. Check out our interview, and connect with her directly on LinkedIn.

LB: Let’s begin on a high note. Tell us what you love about your job.

Valerie: I absolutely love our team. I enjoy making the hiring process as easy as possible for my clients. And I love working with candidates – from initial screening; to coaching & prepping for company interviews; to the final stages of onboarding; and follow-up after they start a new job. Relationships are everything.

LB: What’s one aspect of recruiting that requires the most effort — and how do you handle it?

Valerie: Time and patience both come to mind. Time is our enemy in the current environment. It’s my responsibility to communicate with our clients when they may miss out on hiring the talent they say they want because candidates have so many opportunities.

I share with clients the state of the market and what they need to do differently to hire the talent they want. If you want a candidate, I want to get that candidate for you. It’s a partnership.

Patience is important too when you’re helping clients and candidates find a harmonious connection — going over the details, the right salary, benefits, and company WFH and COVID policies.

LB: What has changed in the recruiting industry?

Valerie: Nothing is the same as it was 8 years ago. This used to be a phone business, and now everyone is on email, text, and LinkedIn messenger. Very few people actually use the phone. Employers are much more progressive now. They're more willing to offer flexible hours and hybrid schedules when negotiating an offer.

LB: What advice can you give employers who want to fill long-term positions in Finance and Accounting?

Valerie: Work with a recruiter that specializes in the positions you are looking to fill, like me. We understand the different types of accounting roles across all industries; and we have an extensive talent network that goes back many years. I have worked with entry level candidates and followed their careers to the executives they are today. These candidates while not looking for an opportunity will always take a call from me. Request a consultation to start the process.

LB: Every role and every company is different, but some things are universal. What are the top 3 competencies that make a candidate outstanding?

Valerie: I look for strong communication skills, technical skills, and ambition. One CEO I recruit for says, "Send me the skill and the will."

LB: If there was one piece of advice you would give to someone who is considering a career move at this time, what would it be?

Valerie: Make a list of the things that are important. Contact me and I will help you explore your options. Candidates don’t have the time to go through the interview process to find out that company is not a good fit for them. We make the process as stress free as possible. We know you are working and try to arrange interview times that work with your schedule. We have most of your questions answered in the beginning of the process and present reasons and motivation for why you made career moves.

LB: What’s the secret to providing a great client experience?

Valerie: Asking all of the right questions and really paying attention to what the client needs. We’re here to assist our clients with vacancies that are difficult to fill on their own. When clients need to move fast, we maintain a sense of urgency; stay connected to all parties; and fill positions quickly. Request a free consultation to learn more about our hands-on, consultive approach to recruiting.

Is your job wearing you out?

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 18:54:18 GMT

WHEN, WHY + HOW TO MAKE A CAREER CHANGE

Do you ever wonder where the advice to change careers every 3-5 years comes from? According to Jobist, people who make career changes report that they are happier, more satisfied, more fulfilled, less stressed, and they're making more money.

Who doesn't want all of this?

The fact is, you may have to go in order to grow.

Yet, the decision to make a change is something many people wrestle with. Often, there's a set of opposing forces creating internal conflict - there may be reasons to leave, but there are factors keeping you stuck in place.

If you're at a career crossroads, and you have no idea what to do about it, the first step is to pay attention. Listen to your head and your heart.

We've rounded up a list of red flags to pay attention to - they're signals that it's time to plan a strategy and get on a more fulfilling path.

Check them out below, and then download our guide to navigate making a career transition.

Here's what's inside:

Nine questions that you should answer before you start looking

How to spot a toxic work environment

Our simple, six-step action plan to get unstuck.

12 Signs Your Job is Wearing You Out

Pay attention to these red flags:

You're bored and no longer challenged. Passion & excitement are gone.
You are not valued, rewarded, or appreciated.
You don't trust your company.
You feel burnt-out or extremely tired.
You're pessimistic about the future.
You feel isolated.
You're experiencing work-related anxiety.
Your leadership team is not receptive to feedback.
Your skills are becoming obsolete.
You are frustrated because the leadership team lacks competence.
You frequently feel conflicted because you don't agree with corporate values.
You feel trapped because there's little or no room for salary increase, growth or advancement at your company.

Need support you can trust?

Download our complimentary guide , and talk to a recruite r for free. Our recruiters will help you spotlight your skills; find suitable opportunities; and we support you during interviews and when you're negotiating offers. Contact us today.

"If there’s some part of you that’s questioning your career, it’s important to listen to that. Our hearts sometimes know ourselves better than our minds do."

-Michelle Obama

Solutions for a Candidate-Driven Market

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 21:55:55 GMT

Are you struggling to attract talent and fill open positions? You’re not alone. In the aftermath of COVID, there’s a set of polar, opposing forces making a mark on today’s employment market.

Here’s what’s behind the challenge:

In a workplace that’s more digital and remote than ever, there isn’t a shortage of work. Employers need leaders at every level who can manage change; and perform more strategic functions, such as business analysis, process improvement, and trust-building. And the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has forecasted that 8.4 million jobs will be created in the US by 2028.

On the flip side, companies who are trying to ramp up are facing a shortage of workers. During the height of COVID, many people made the decision to retire 2 - 3 years earlier than they were planning for a variety of reasons — including the shift to remote work; more time at home with family; plus the fear of contracting a virus with severe effects for older adults. In the third quarter of 2020, roughly 28.6 million Baby Boomers retired, according to the Pew Research Center. And for many professionals, the pandemic has sparked a shift in direction in what media outlets have dubbed “ the great resignation .” In July 2021, the BBC and YahooNews reported that “employees are leaving the workforce or switching jobs in droves.” People are seeking change, and they want opportunities that are more autonomous, flexible, and rewarding; with better wages.

As a result, we have a candidate-driven employment market where qualified job-seekers are receiving multiple offers. Employers need to make attractive deals and fast decisions to secure a hire. These strategies can help you find fresh talent and navigate the challenges that everyone is feeling.

Rethink Job Requirements & Job Ads

1. Focus on core requirements

Identify what can be trained on the job rather than including an exhausting (and possibly intimidating) list of pre-requisite skills and certifications in job ads . Studies show that women are less likely to apply to jobs where they don’t meet 100% of the criteria, while men will apply to jobs for which they meet 60% of the requirements. Encourage more candidates to apply by scrapping unnecessary details, such as secondary responsibilities; or certifications that can be obtained after a hire is made.

2. Screen for transferable skills.

Transferable skills are portable—they’re the abilities that can be transferred from one job (or company) to another. Unlike technical skills and industry knowledge (which can be trained) transferable skills are an indicator of a candidate’s versatility, adaptability, and leadership ability. When you emphasize transferable skills during a talent search, you can uncover someone’s natural competencies, traits, and motivational drivers to gain insight on their potential for growth at your organization. Here’s a list of transferable skills you may want to focus on:

TRANSFERABLE COMPTENCIES AND TRAITS

Agility

Adaptive Learning

Analysis

Attention-to-Detail

Appreciation for Diversity

Change Management

Communication Skills

Creativity

Critical Thinking

Collaboration

Compassion

Conflict Resolution

Customer Focus

Data Analysis

Digital Fluency

Decision-making

Empathy

Emotional Intelligence

Inclusion

Influence

Innovation

Integrity

Presentation Skills

Problem-solving

Productivity

Sales skills

Self-direction

Time-Management

Team Leadership

3. Be flexible on experience level and minimum number of years in an industry.

If you require a minimum number of years within a specific industry, ask yourself why. If someone has been sitting at a desk for ten years in the same industry, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the most competent or qualified candidate for an opening. When you specify a minimum number of years, you’re essentially screening out emerging talent, recent grads, plus rockstar veterans with a ton of insight and experience from other industries. When experience level is a “must-have” for a senior role, keep in mind that transferable competencies (such as emotional intelligence or critical thinking) are the keys to long-term success and growth potential — and they have nothing to do with industry.

Strengthen and Reinforce Your Network of Talent

An estimated 95 percent of companies rely on LinkedIn and Indeed to find candidates. Expand your network beyond top career sites to find hidden talent and passive candidates who may not be actively seeking employment. Try these creative sourcing strategies:

1. Build strong relationships with external search firms.

Experienced search firms (such as our team ) nurture a deep network of relationships. They can identify and qualify passive candidates (especially at the senior level) who may not be active on career sites. They'll present candidates who you can't find online; help you fill challenging roles; recommend progressive talent solutions you might not have considered; and they’re your go-to solution when you need to conduct a confidential search.

2. Take your social media strategy to the next level.

Connect with the talent that you’re seeking in the places where they naturally hang out, which nowadays means social media. 73% of millennials found their last job on a social network. And the average Gen Z member maintains seven social media profiles (and over the coming years, they will contribute 61 million employees to the workforce.)

When it comes to social media recruiting, posting job ads on your company’s facebook page is just the beginning. Social platforms allow you to actively curate and engage with a network of talent. Hashtag searches help you connect with individual content creators who have highly specialized skills sets they are passionate about. And you can connect with their audience, including followers, and those who like and comment. It’s a way to find people who are naturally interested in the career opportunities that you’re offering. For example, if you’re looking for a UX Manager, search for #UX, or #UXDesign. And, you can get more specific by searching for content tagged with coding languages that are required. Recruiters can also start groups on LinkedIn or Facebook to attract candidates within niche industries (marketing or finance, for example.) Industry groups are a platform for personalized, targeted employer branding campaigns that resonate deeply with members.

3. Implement an employee referral program

Think of happy employees as an extension of your recruiting team. They are your employer brand ambassadors; and they can speak with credibility about why it’s great to work at you r company. Design an incentivized referral plan that rewards employees whenever they refer a candidate who results in a hire.

4. Recruit internally and up-skill promising candidates.

Develop and maintain a system for internal job postings. When internal mobility is part of a comprehensive succession plan that includes career development programs and career paths, you’re makin g an investment in company culture that has ROI. According to Bersin by Deloitte, organizations with a strong learning culture experience 30-50% higher engagement and retention.

Target New Populations of Workers

Identify new demographics of workers and embrace the flexibility of a fully-equipped digital workplace that supports remote work; and then develop personalized employer branding campaigns that they’ll find appealing. Here are some to consider:

Remote workers from around the globe
Retired professionals and baby-boomers
Stay-at-home parents
LGBTQ
Women

To design personalized campaigns, be sure to answer the question, “Why would I want to work here?” For example, to appeal to female candidates, you might showcase key contributions made by women on your leadership team. And to appeal to stay-at-home parents, you can highlight all of the perks of your flexible, family-first, digital culture.

Fill challenging positions fast with Nielsen Associates.
Our recruiters are industry experts and we have a deep network of talent. We can quickly present highly qualified candidates for any Marketing , Human Resources , or Finance & Accounting role. Request a free consultation with a recruiter to learn more about our range of services.

References from this article:

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210629-the-great-resignation-how-employers-drove-workers-to-quit

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/24/1007914455/as-the-pandemic-recedes-millions-of-workers-are-saying-i-quit

https://news.yahoo.com/great-resignation-haunts-employers-trying-100900909.html

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.nr0.htm

https://builtin.com/recruiting/social-media-recruiting

Building trust starts on the inside.

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 05:59:23 GMT

Team Retreat at Ender's Island, CT

Defining Your Transforming Culture

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 20:47:05 GMT

What is corporate culture - and why is it important?

Corporate culture is a combination of elements that make an employer distinct and unique —much like personality or identity. Culture encompasses an organization’s values, ethics, vision, behaviors, and work environment. It’s who you are on the inside — the way you think about yourself, talk about yourself, the way you are viewed by the world, and the characteristics that define you as an employer.

Let’s say you’re a young organization in startup mode. You may think, “we haven’t devoted much time to developing our culture internally —we’re still small. It’s on the list; but we’re waiting until we get bigger to focus on culture.” In this scenario, this mindset is part of how you would define your culture. You might consider describing your culture like this: “We’re a young, busy organization with a lot of competing priorities, getting started. We have a growth vision, with formal corporate identity initiatives on our roadmap.”

The point is —every organization has a culture— regardless of whether you presently have a formal strategy or culture committee in place.

The culture of your organization impacts everything:

public image
ability to attract, retain and engage talent
everyday morale
productivity & innovation
how internal and external policies are designed
how decisions are made

Culture Sells

In a candidate-driven employment market, your culture is a key differentiator.

Think of culture as an influential part of any job offer that you make—the same way you think of the compensation and benefits that you offer.

Package cultural highlights so they can be presented to candidates as a selling point during the screening process.

When a candidate feels that the work environment, values, vision, philosophies and ethics are in alignment with their own, it may be the deciding factor that convinces them to join your team.

Culture in the Age of Digital

Digital Workplaces are one of the natural advantages of having a cloud-based technology infrastructure. Flexible, remote work arrangements are a big draw and a bargaining chip during talent acquisition. Progressive employers recognize that in addition to promoting work-life balance, there are many operational and cultural advantages.

Here’s a sampling of benefits that you may want to focus on:

The Benefits of the Digital Workplace

Organizational design and scheduling that’s employee-centered.
Satisfy demands of workers and consumers. More work-shifts, coverage hours, convenience and flexibility.
Promote work-life balance. More time for family, personal relationships, hobbies, and passions. Happier employees.
Hire from a larger talent pool and assemble diverse global teams.
Increased accessibility of knowledge and data.
Improved business operations with automated digital processes and work-flows.
Greater business continuity.
Staff that’s immersed in technology, and more technical by default.
More transparency when desired.
Less risk and overhead than brick and mortar

As teams embrace remote work arrangements, the way companies define their culture is transforming.

Rather than conveying a strong sense of place and physical amenities, culture is more an indicator of the values, philosophies, and management strategies at your company.

Check out our blog on employer branding for guidance on shifting the culture conversation at your company.

Business Insights from COVID

While the benefits of Digital Workplaces are tough to dispute, there are cultural challenges that everyone is feeling as a result of COVID.

In August 2020, research commissioned by Microsoft cited a key takeaway:

Workers impacted by COVID across 15 European markets want more flexible, remote ways of working to continue.

In the same study, remote workers in all countries and industries reported feeling:

a weaker sense of company culture
less team cohesion
less collaboration
worker isolation
less innovation around core products & services

It’s important to note that the majority of research on remote work was conducted during a pandemic — a global crisis that affected business directives; what teams were focused on; and how they were feeling. For many companies, COVID required fast decisions; fast operational changes; and fast technology implementations — without adequate time for careful platform evaluation, selection, configuration, training, or integration. And in some cases, “non-critical” business operations, initiatives, and programs were paused during the pandemic.

Business leaders have an opportunity before them. It’s time to “geek out” on trust building strategies in digital workspaces that are now fully equipped with the technology framework that supports remote work, increased collaboration for diverse teams, and greater work-life balance. Get inspired with the strategies that follow.

It’s time to refine.

Engagement strategies for hybrid, remote and distributed teams.

Are you tired of making offers that get turned down?

Our experienced recruiters present employment opportunities using a personalized approach that's tailored to the career goals and preferences of top candidates. And, we can connect you with employer branding experts who will showcase your culture so that it's a major selling point during talent acquisition. Request a free consultation with our team today.

6 Reasons to Invest in Succession Planning & How to Start

lbroskett@yahoo.com (Lori Broskett) — Mon, 10 May 2021 23:49:57 GMT

Succession Planning is the Human Side of Business Continuity

When we think of business continuity, our brains go into disaster mode— and that’s exactly the point of the exercise. We’re asked to think in hypotheticals — and then design contingency plans. What would we do in a crazy unforeseen situation? What if a natural disaster damaged business infrastructure, disrupting operations? And, what if there was a long-term system outage that prevented remote work? How could we maintain business operations under disastrous conditions?

However, there’s another side of business continuity planning that’s not just for disasters. Leadership Continuity (or Succession Planning) is about the heart of your company —the people, knowledge, and business strategies that sustain and grow your business. Succession Plans are designed for everyday scenarios; and once implemented, they’re activated daily.

What is Succession Planning?

Top 6 Reasons to Invest in Succession Planning

In the third quarter of 2020, roughly 28.6 million Baby Boomers have left the job market and retired, according to the Pew Research Center. And it’s worth noting that within the talent acquisition industry, and amongst corporates, guidance to “ change careers every three to five years ” has been popular advice for some time. Aside from reducing the impact of natural turnover, here are 5 more reasons to make Succession Planning a priority:

Breaking it Down: 4 Key Succession Planning Activities

Step 1- Assess existing organizational knowledge.

To start, zoom in and take a close look at your organization. With succession planning, the focus is on the people at your company — what they do, how they learn, and what is expected to be successful. Here’s a high-level example of questions you may start with:

What are we doing now?
Who does it?
What skills and knowledge do they currently have?
How do individual employees obtain organizational knowledge throughout their tenure?

Companies may conduct a blend of assessments to obtain accurate answers —including surveys, 360-degree interviews, job-shadowing, job-description audit and analysis, and performance appraisal audits. Typically assessments take place department-by-department, and role-by-role.

Step 2- Assess your future needs.

Once you’ve got an accurate snapshot of today, shift your focus to the future of your organization. Start with these high-level questions:

What are our future strategic plans?
What is on the Company’s strategic roadmap?
What are the needed skill sets for future projects?

It’s helpful to look forward in increments. Ask the Succession Planning Team to project future strategic initiatives (and the talent needed) in 3, 5, 7 and 10 year increments from today.

Acknowledge skill gaps that exist currently; and treat them as a catalyst. Skill gaps are opportunities to make improvements and enhancements to the knowledge management systems and career development programs at your company. (See steps 3 - 4 for more on this.)

Step 3- Align Leadership and Human Resources with future vision.

Be as transparent as possible during the process, and make sure key contributors within your organization are onboard. To start, this includes your Executive Leadership team, plus Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, and Diversity Leaders.

Ultimately, as your Leadership Continuity strategy matures, all hiring managers would take part in Succession Planning as they develop and grow their teams. And all employees would participate in career development programs that are designed to engage them on a career path that’s rewarding.

Leadership Continuity & the Role of HR

Human Resources leaders can make an impact by coordinating all initiatives with a vision for the future and continuity in mind:

Recruiting efforts should emphasize the skillsets that are needed for future initiatives that are on the company’s strategic roadmap. Update job descriptions with respect to future skill sets, and structure new roles when necessary. And when recruiting internally, Human Resources leaders can ensure that a diverse group of qualified employees are included as candidates.
Professional development programs centered on career paths ensure that there’s a robust and diverse internal talent pipeline. This includes skills training, and career coaching & mentoring programs that can be designed and implemented by an in-house Learning and Development team or vendor.
Inclusive programs that focus on the transfer and retention of organizational knowledge and culture can be designed and implemented. Examples include onboarding programs for new team members at every level; retention strategies that engage and motivate future leaders; plus transitional off-boarding when an employee departs.

Step 4- Put Knowledge transfer systems and programs in place.

Connect Everything with Tech

Continuity planning is often an eye-opening experience. Many companies uncover opportunities to improve information flow through greater integration. It's an opportunity to get knowledge and data out of “silos,” so that it's more accessible. Information silos exist when information isn’t shared between departments, business divisions, or technology applications. Silos can cause a variety of problems - including inefficient operations and resource utilization.

Onboarding

It’s important to emphasize that new hire orientation (where a new employee completes necessary paperwork and benefit elections) is not the same as new hire onboarding. Effective onboarding is an inclusive welcome process that acclimates employees (at every level) into an organization’s culture. Onboarding can span several days, weeks, or months. During onboarding, new hires are given the tools and information needed to be productive team members. Research by Glassdoor found that organizations with a strong onboarding process improve new hire retention by 82 percent and productivity by over 70 percent.

Mentoring

Consider complimenting the traditional skills-training curriculum with mentoring programs to forge strong, supportive, and diverse employee relationships. This is an opportunity to blend diverse generational perspectives, skill-sets, and experience levels. Mentoring programs are effective because they offer employees situational guidance to tackle real business challenges, resulting in optimal knowledge and culture transfer.

Make Nielsen Associates Part of your Leadership Continuity Plan

Our specialized recruiters can help you address skills gaps that exist and recruit for new positions and vacancies. We have a large talent pipeline to fill any Human Resources , Marketing , or Finance and Accounting role. Request a free consultation to talk with our team.

Zooming in on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 18:05:45 GMT

Note: This blog was originally published on October 8, 2020. We periodically make updates to keep the references and our content relevant.

When the news of George Floyd's murder dominated the news on May 25, 2020, our collective attention was split between COVID-19 and the reality of racial injustice. With tensions high, and work environments in flux due to rapid and required health mandates, many companies committed to making progressive improvements. They began examining, evaluating, and adapting their initiatives on workforce and workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I.)

To put it simply, the world of work was redefined in 2020 —and this brings opportunities to (re)evaluate and make adjustments. The events of this year impact each other. If you're a large organization, this might mean you’re zooming in on initiatives that foster inclusion when teams collaborate remotely. And if you’re a small or medium-sized business, you might be exploring DE&I strategies for the first time —wondering how to begin, with a small leadership team and limited resources.

In any case, regardless of company size, strategic maturity, or budget; it helps to visit the basics (and get expert wisdom) to uncover new opportunities that drive organizational change. The result that you’re after? A company that celebrates and values differences — where employees recognize that a combination of viewpoints, backgrounds, and experiences leads to creative innovation, productivity, and success.

Diversity

What it is:

It may sound counterintuitive when you’re just starting out, but diversity is about your larger organization, rather than individuals.

According to Fatima Dainkeh, Senior Coordinator of Dialogues at YW Boston , organizational diversity “includes all the ways in which people differ, encompassing the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another.”

An individual candidate cannot be ‘diverse’; but a candidate pool, team, and organization can be diverse— provided they’re comprised of individuals from differing race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, and life experience.

For many organizations, this means a shift in demographic structure, with strategies that begin even before hiring.

Ask yourself: Who is at the table?

What it looks like in action:

Companies typically focus their diversity strategies throughout all phases of talent acquisition, such as:

Job descriptions & applicant sourcing
Interview screening
Hiring diverse candidates for every role; leadership through entry-level
Succession planning

Expert Wisdom:

Executive Director of The Urban Labs , Malia Lazu, says that, “Hiring diverse candidates should not be the first step. First, focus on figuring out why you have not been able to attract and retain a diverse team.” According to SHRM, this often means deploying strategies within the communities and marketplaces that your company serves; with a focus on attracting and delighting diverse customers and suppliers. Camber Outdoors , a national nonprofit supporting workplace inclusion, equity, and diversity across the active-outdoors industries, suggests flipping the order of ‘DE&I’ to ‘IE&D’, under the premise that, “if inclusion and equitable systems are in place, hiring for and retaining a diverse workforce will come.”

Inclusion

What it is:

Having a diverse workforce does not guarantee an inclusive workplace. Verna Myers’ analogy is often cited to illustrate this: “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.”

Once there’s a diverse group of people in the room, the focus shifts to everyday engagement and retention. To achieve this, supportive work environments, collaborative processes, and systems are needed —where any employee feels welcomed and encouraged to participate and make contributions that are valued. YW Boston describes an inclusive and welcoming climate as one that “embraces differences and offers respect in words and actions for all people.”

Ask yourself: Do all feel they belong at the table?

What it looks like in action:

Inclusion strategies can be closely integrated into organizational culture, which is then reflected in policy and process:

Retention strategies
Engagement strategies
Workplace flexibility
Collaborative, supportive, respectful work environments; virtually and in-person

Expert Wisdom:

The team at YW Boston shares that, “it’s important to remember that inclusive spaces are not built overnight,” while offering a reminder that “it took hundreds of years to create these inequalities in our institutions, and it may take as much time to dismantle [them].” In business, everyone wants fast results, but with DE&I initiatives, lasting change is the ultimate goal. The important thing is to start.

Equity

What it is:

Equity is the fair treatment of all, with the understanding that not all employees have access to the same external resources, privileges, or support systems, in the past or presently. As a result, equity strategies seek to identify and remove obstacles that prevent participation, success and advancement of employees who are less privileged.

Camber Outdoors explains this by highlighting that, "Equality and equity mean completely different things. Equity recognizes that different people have varied needs, experiences, and opportunities. Equitable design in the workplace helps lift up those from marginalized groups so that they have an equal opportunity.”

Ask yourself: What are the barriers to getting to and staying at the table?

What it looks like in action:

Many companies start with policy design that’s focused on performance evaluation, performance management, and career development, such as:

Fair treatment, and collaborative processes for performance improvement and conflict resolution
Equal access to opportunity, training, and development
Performance metrics based on excellence, productivity, creativity, and innovation
Internal mobility, and paths to career advancement

Expert Wisdom:

YW Boston recommends a strategy called using an ‘equity lens’ when designing diversity and inclusion strategies. When it comes to diversity, using an equity lens means asking questions about your talent acquisition practices such as the ones posed by Fatima Dainkeh:

Where are you posting the job description?
Is the language accessible?
Are you listing skills that allow other people to apply?

During the process, you may recognize that while the job states “Masters degree preferred”, not all prospective employees have had access to graduate education, so it is worth evaluating comparable skills sets for the job, such as experience working in the community.

Get Started with an Experienced HR Contractor

DE&I is not easy work, and it’s not extra work (it’s actual work, which often calls for dedicated full time resources, or forming an internal DE&I leadership committee.) On their website, the team at YW Boston stresses the importance of “reminding folks there is no one way, no right way, but there is a way that works for you.”

If you’re not sure where to begin, or whether a full-time resource is needed, consider starting with an experienced HR Contractor. You’ll have an opportunity to discover what a Human Resources expert can offer your organization; you’ll gain understanding of their role; and see the differences they can make first hand, on a contract-basis, for any length of time.

This is just a sampling of what they can do:

DE&I Needs analysis
Custom DE&I Strategy Development
Policy implementation and customized action plans that drive organizational change
Training & Development selection, development & implementation

Book a Free Consultation

If you’d like to learn more about HR Contractors, click here to book a Free consultation with a Nielsen Recruiter.

Resources and Credits:

Content Strategy, Writing & Development by: Nine Planet Design

Clean up your Job Descriptions + FREE Template

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 09:08:16 GMT

Job Descriptions are not Just for Recruiting

There are so many reasons to get serious about job descriptions — especially in the wake of COVID, which has altered how we work in terms of location, time, and process. Here’s why job descriptions matter; and how to give them a spring cleaning.

Here's why they're so important:

1. Job descriptions are structural building blocks.

Organizational structure determines how business activities are organized and directed. Structure is important - because it ultimately impacts how information flows across all levels within a company. To illustrate this, start by thinking of the functional departments inside of every large organization — Human Resources, IT, Marketing, Accounting, and so on. Now pick one of these departments, and zoom in on hierarchy. In each department, there are many roles. Each of these roles is reflected on a department org chart; and each has a specific job description. For example, in IT, you might have a CTO at the top; and reporting to her are the Director of Programming, and the Director of Technical Services. All three have unique job descriptions; and they each manage other people. They’re IT leaders managing employees who work in unison to accomplish strategic business objectives.

2. Job descriptions are necessary for professional development.

Job descriptions give a clear understanding of individual roles and responsibilities. They provide an objective framework for performance evaluation and accountability; and they shape a strategic learning curriculum when professional development is inherent in an organization’s culture. Professional development programs lead to career advancement, equity, internal mobility, happy employees —and therefore high retention. Employees understand what’s expected; they know how their performance is evaluated; and they’re empowered with resources to grow with the company.

3. Job descriptions increase productivity, efficiency and strategic alignment.

When a company is structured wholly, with accurate job descriptions for each role in each department, it’s possible to optimize operations interdepartmentally. Inefficiency happens when there’s a disconnect between functional departments; and there’s a lot at stake when the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. For example, to minimize risk, say there’s an IT employee designing database controls to protect private data. And —within the same organization, there’s a different employee, in a different department, storing private data in spreadsheets, and sharing it with an external vendor. In this scenario, both employees are doing their job; but there’s an operational and strategic disconnect that’s counter-productive.

Download our Job Description Template

Have an open position that you need to move fast on?

Quickly gather requirements with our job description template.

Ready for a clean up?

1. Start by analyzing the role.
Don’t rely on old job descriptions. Keep in mind that technology and strategic goals are always in flux, so perform an analysis every time there’s an opening. Use old descriptions as a starting point; and then investigate. Try these techniques for a new view:

Get a “Day-in-the-Life” summary of the position: Spend the day with someone who is in the role, or transitioning out of the role. Skim their correspondence (with the proper security clearance), and review their appointment calendar, meeting schedule, and daily agenda to identify important business relationships, incoming requests, and everyday requirements.

Get 360-degree feedback on the role: Gain perspective by asking around. (Pun intended!) If you’re filling a management position, what do direct reports think about this role? What’s the perspective of next-level managers? What does the executive team think? Ask questions that pertain to job function (tasks, responsibilities, skills, knowledge;) and ask for insight on how the role compliments overall business strategy.

Identify the challenges and goals of the position: Compile a list of open and future-slated projects. Identify the performance metrics for the role; and find out how often performance is evaluated. Are there any specific challenges that are difficult to solve?

2. Structure your job description.

Design or adopt a https://mailchi.mp/496a9f9fb3fd/free-job-description-template standard template for job descriptions https://mailchi.mp/496a9f9fb3fd/free-job-description-template at your company. The key is to make it universal. It should work for every functional department, and every role within a department. For inspiration, check out this list of common components:

Job Title?
Department?
Internal Job Grades? (exempt status, benefits eligibility, etc.)
Reports To?
About the team? (Culture, Mission, Strategy)
About the role? (Strategic overview; how you’ll make an impact)
What you’ll do? ( Specific list of job responsibilities, frequency, and performance metrics)
Requirements? (Qualifications, experience, knowledge, skills, or certifications)
Commitments? (Schedule, location, travel, physical & equipment requirements)
Salary range?
Benefits & perks of working here?
How to apply?
What’s the interview process?

Check out this curated advice.

Quirky job titles — Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

Around five years ago, quirky, out-of-the ordinary job titles were trending everywhere. It happened suddenly (and it was impossible to ignore.) The strategy makes a lot of sense. Quirky titles grab your attention and entice further reading on career sites. They’re a valiant attempt at marketing unique career opportunities, reaching more candidates; and they signal that the work environment is creative and fun. But it's important to note that this approach comes with some drawbacks. Quirky titles can be vague, which not only attracts the wrong candidates during hiring, but it also leads to confusion for new hires on the job, who may not fully understand the magnitude of their stand-out title. If you’re feeling doubtful, our advice is to create job titles that are clear and accurate.

Detect and Correct Bias

Watch out for unconscious bias and use an equity lens when analyzing requirements and writing job posts . Here’s three types to look out for:

Experience Bias: Requiring formal education or a certain degree is an example of experience bias. Keep in mind that not all prospective employees have had access to graduate education, so it is worth evaluating comparable skillsets for the job, such as hands-on experience working in the community, or in a similar position. Instead of a specific experience level (minimum 10 years in the industry) ask yourself what skills are really required for the position. Are there opportunities to learn on the job?

Affinity Bias: Affinity bias is the tendency for one person to relate to, advocate for, and hold a more favorable opinion of another because the two share similar characteristics or have a common bond. This gets tricky when companies hire based on subjective qualities; or place a strong emphasis on “cultural fit”. Steer clear of affinity bias by changing your conversations about company culture , and sticking to the screening questions and interview process.

Job Description Bias: Pay attention to language when writing job descriptions and job postings, and weed out any terminology that could potentially alienate a certain gender or race. For example, posting that you’re “looking for salesmen” clearly implies a gender bias. Tools like Textio use AI to help you create inclusive, gender-neutral job descriptions by identifying masculine words (eg. “ambitious” and “challenging”) and feminine words (eg. “collaborative” and “support.”) This is especially important for diversity and inclusion strategies in industries that are traditionally male-dominated, such as tech and science.

Liven Up the Language on Job Posts

Transform job posts into more than a drab listing of requirements pulled from the job description. View them as an opportunity to strengthen your employer brand and inspire the right candidates to take action and apply.

Remove redundancy by scrapping long company descriptions. Candidates can get all the information they need about your company and culture on your careers page; and on job sites like LinkedIn and Indeed. Describe specifics about the role and the team instead.
Be conversational and clear. Remember that you’re appealing to people, so use language that’s relatable, professional, and free of company jargon and corporate buzzwords. Read it out loud: if you wouldn’t say the words, don’t use them.
Use well structured sections with creative headings, (instead of ‘ Responsibilities, ’ try ‘ You’re great at, ’) and use bulleted lists instead of paragraphs.
Replace ‘the ideal candidate’ with ‘you.’ Be direct and personal so that top candidates think, “Yes! That’s me.”
For more tips on writing job posts, plus excellent examples, check out this LinkedIn article and these tips from Workable.

Elevate your strategy with Nielsen Associates.
Our recruiters are industry experts. We identify and evaluate unique qualities & specific requirements for success in any Marketing , HR , Supply Chain , Leadership , Technology , or Financial role. Request a free consultation with a recruiter to learn more about our range of services.

Interview Do's + Don'ts

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 17:24:00 GMT

6 Tips for Hiring Managers

1. Don’t multi-task during the interview. It’s rude.

When you’re on an interview, there’s nothing worse than being interrupted in the middle of articulating your professional goals so that the interviewer can take a call, respond to a text, or “write a quick email”. Keep in mind that for most job-seekers, landing an interview is a very big deal, and perhaps a pivotal career moment. They’re nervous, excited, hopeful, and eager to demonstrate they have what it takes in a short time frame. Give candidates your undivided attention during the interview. Prevent distractions by logging out of email and other apps, shutting off your phone, and letting others know that you’re interviewing someone.

2. Do encourage success. Don’t play mind games.

There are a few recruiting tricks that are not in sync with finding the best fit. Most are attempts to encourage honesty. For example, asking candidates how to spell their managers name (aloud) at the start of the interview. This may give the impression you’ll be checking facts, regardless of whether the candidate has given you permission to contact their current employer. Avoid tactics that throw the conversation off balance, and focus instead on having a natural, comfortable dialogue that flows. Your goal is to get a sense of who this person is by asking a mix of connected, thoughtfully crafted questions.

3. Do ask a good mix of questions.

Plan a range of interview questions to uncover required job knowledge, work style, industry expertise, real experience, and emotional intelligence. For inspiration, check out our recruiting guide, which contains 100+ skills-based questions.

During the interview, connect questions to help the conversation flow naturally. For example, you might ask a candidate to talk about a time they improved or changed a business process (real experience). Their response is an opportunity to ask related follow-up questions about the technology that they used (required job knowledge) and how they helped team-members who struggled with change ( emotional intelligence .)

4. Do consider using an offsite location or co-working space.

Day passes at a co-working space are a great solution when confidentiality and privacy is important for in-person interviews. Co-working spaces are also ideal for start-up businesses and small companies who may not have the distraction-free environment needed for longer, highly focused interview processes.

5. Don’t ask Illegal questions.

When you’re building rapport with candidates during screening, it’s surprisingly easy to accidentally ask questions that are off-limits. Here’s a list of topics you shouldn’t ask during interviews:

Race, Color, or National Origin, Citizenship

Example: Are you originally from Spain? Is English your first language?

Religion

Example: Do you go to church? Do you celebrate Chanukah?

Age

Example: What year were you born? How long have you been working? When did you graduate?

Marital Status or Number of Children

Example: How many kids do you have? Are you married?

Salary History

For a list of states that have enacted salary history bans, which employers are affected and what the specific legislation entails, click here . As a general rule, we recommend playing it safe. Rather than asking for salary history and staying on top of legislation, provide a salary range for the position that you’re screening for; and ask candidates about salary requirements.

Do you socially drink?

Asking this violates the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.

Do you have any outstanding debt?

Employers need permission before asking about credit history. Similar to a criminal background history, you can't disqualify someone from employment unless it directly affects a candidate’s ability to perform the position they’re interviewing for.

Pregnancy status

Example: When are you due?

Sex, Gender Identity, or Sexual Orientation
Disability

6. Don't wing it. Set up a formula and tailor it.

Every role at your company is different, so rather than taking a “one-size-fits-all’ approach, focus instead on identifying and designing the core components of your interview process. For example, there’s an early-stage phone screen, a panel interview, a technical skills assessment, and a culture-fit interview that includes company founders. Depending on the role that you’re filling, any of these components can be re-ordered, omitted, or expanded.

We find

exceptional talent

for growing teams.

Executive Spotlight: Barbara Boschert

Sun, 31 Jan 2021 06:46:43 GMT

We're delivering outstanding client experiences by adding fresh talent.

We are excited to introduce you to Barbara Boschert, VP of Executive Search, who rejoined Nielsen Associates this month following 8 years leading Human Resources functions on the Corporate side.

Barbara has a wealth of real-world Human Resources experience that all our clients will benefit from, and we're thrilled she's once again part of the Nielsen Associates team! Having her onboard will allow us to respond to the increased demands for Human Resources Leaders as she provides expert executive consulting while we continue to broaden our network of talent.

During her career, Barbara has successfully performed in senior-level HR roles across various business sectors. Most recently, she was the Head of Human Resources for a multi-state Private Security firm with over 5000 employees. Barbara’s relevant HR knowledge and experiences make her a valuable resource. We've asked her to share a bit more about herself so that you can get to know her.

LB: COVID is still dominating the newsfeeds, and you've had hands-on experience working through the related challenges. I know you have thoughts about what the future holds for HR Leaders who are managing through this. Can you tell us what's on the horizon?

Barbara:

In 2020, we have experienced such monumental changes in both our personal and work lives. Human Resources leaders have played a vital role, a leadership role, in guiding business leaders through the changes in 2020. But we are not done yet; in fact, we are just starting.

Human Resource Leaders are going to need to develop, embrace and implement organizational strategies to assist growing and sustaining businesses in our new world. Performance management will change, work team dynamics will change, and influencing many of our traditional-minded executives through this change will remain on the forefront.

My advice for Executives and Business Leaders is to continually evaluate resources as we move forward. When you look at your current HR team, are they prepared to support the business, and more importantly, do they have the skills and competencies needed to implement the organizational change needed in 2020 and beyond?

LB: This is a great question for executives, especially because expectations have shifted so rapidly. Tell us more about how you collaborate with executives and how you've made the biggest impact.

Barbara:

As someone who is known for her upfront and straight-forward communication style, my largest contributions were when I was able to work collaboratively with Executive teams on advancing the “people agenda” for the organization.

LB: Can you tell us more about the 'People Agenda'?

Barbara:

“People agenda” means different things within each organization. People agenda can be used to describe company culture, but it can also be used to describe the corporate strategies or initiatives that an organization assigns to the Human Resources Leader relating to its people. In 2020, the People agenda for me was creating processes and protocols to ensure business continuity and employee safety. Many companies went to a remote working environment with little to no notice.

The move-forward people agenda in my mind is to determine ways to maintain and increase employee engagement, motivation and performance measurement in this new environment.

In other organizations, the people agenda might be to evaluate and create a fair and equitable Compensation structure to ensure rewards and recognition are consistent, fair and motivating the behavior to move the business forward.

For a growing manufacturing or distribution company, one item on the people agenda might be to increase retention within a group that consistently has high turnover.

LB: I know the Nielsen Associates team is thrilled that you're bringing so much to the table - including credible, real-world experience. You've held every position within the Human Resources function. Of all the positions you've held, which was your favorite?

Barbara:

Each and every Human Resources role that I’ve held was special to me. I think that my favorite roles within HR were for organizations that needed HR functions built or “fixed”. What I excel at is “building or rebuilding” HR functions. Having worked in all of various HR disciplines during my career, I’ve learned from the ground up; and remained very hands-on. This enables me to quickly assess HR functions within an organization; then rebuild using my strength in overall HR Compliance.

LB: Which was the most challenging?

Barbara:

What has been challenging for me personally is having to furlough and layoff individuals due to COVID closures (both temporary and some permanent) that hit my industry particularly hard in the Tri-State area. It’s never easy to make have to make business decisions that impact employee’s lives and livelihoods. However, there have been positives that have come out of COVID, too. Companies have been, in many cases, forced to have employees work from home. These flexible work arrangements have been available and around since the late 1990s but have never been consistently embraced by Corporate America. COVID has forced a new way for us to work. The next phase will be for HR professionals to work with their organizations to create and implement metrics for tracking productivity, increasing employee engagement and other safety protocols for those who must continue in a traditional office environment.

LB: To date, what is your biggest HR accomplishment?

Barbara:

In my last corporate role before rejoining Nielsen Associates, my biggest accomplishment was also my biggest HR challenge. When COVID hit in March, the entire organization (and some of our clients) looked at me for guidance, processes and protocols. With the daily and hourly changes during this Pandemic, I needed to pivot on a dime and create processes, plans, safety protocols and communications to 5000 employees almost daily. This required continuous research to ensure that I was staying abreast of the most current guidance from the CDC along with federal and state guidelines. I didn’t sleep much during this time period, but I have to say “I didn’t let them see me sweat”.

LB: Thanks so much for sharing more about your experience with us. How can Nielsen clients connect with you and work with you directly?

Barbara:
New clients can request a free consultation here. And they can get regular updates by connecting with me on LinkedIn, and following Nielsen Associates on all our social networks. I'm looking forward to what's in store!

The Rules of Attraction

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 04:33:57 GMT

Employer Branding and Candidate Experience Matters

Your brand is who you are on the outside, in the customer-facing world, but it’s also what happens on the inside. The two are closely aligned parts of one story. Because when you think about it, what happens on the inside shows. It includes values that guide business strategy, your map for the future, and most importantly, talented teams of people who are committed to success daily. Customers and employees are the end-to-end brand strategy, but often companies only focus on customers. The people you hire become insiders who shape and deliver services to provide outstanding customer experiences. When you view it this way, branding efforts that begin in the job market have a greater measure of strategic importance.

In our eBook, we define a set of 9 modern skills every company should be onboarding to compete in our modern, tech-driven world. But the real challenge is finding candidates who possess these skills. Qualified team members who really have what it takes to make an impact are a company’s greatest competitive advantage. And once you’ve found them, they need to be convinced your company is a place where they will find the type of fulfillment that’s a priority to them .

To define your employer brand, change the strategy.

When people think of talent acquisition, the screening process naturally comes to mind first. There’s the interviews, carefully crafted questions, hiring panels, work samples, you name it. But if you devote energy to defining your brand as an employer upfront, you can transform your hiring process so that it’s a two-way conversation; one that results in true synergy, cultural add, and better hiring decisions. Start by asking yourself screening questions from the candidate’s point of view.

1. What’s it like to work here?

This seems like a simple question, but you should cover all bases for candidates when you present your answer:

company culture
compensation and earning opportunities
health and time-off benefits packages to include telemedicine and enhance mental health wellness
Hybrid work arrangements
Caregiver and childcare benefits
Perks, partnerships, and discounts
internal mobility, stability, recognition, career development and performance management
your values, mission, vision, goals… and why they’re important to your success

2. Why would I want to work he r e?

This question is an opportunity to be more targeted and strategic. It asks you to present what’s important to the talent who you want to attract . For example, with millennial candidates, you might highlight that you offer career development or mentoring programs. To appeal to female candidates, you might showcase key contributions made by women on your leadership team.

Already have a strategy? Give it an agility audit.

Here are some new questions to answer when defining culture:

• Is the work challenging, meaningful, competitive, fun, creative, impactful?

• Is the team supportive, collaborative, or more autonomous and independent?

• Is work-life balance a priority?

• Are you flexible? Innovative? Values-driven? Focused on quality?

Make an impression on recruits with these employer branding strategies.

1. C r eate an EVP.

An EVP is an Employer Value Proposition. Typically, it’s a collection of factors candidates consider when evaluating an employment offer (company culture; benefits packages and perks; career development and advancement; and company values.) Having a clear EVP conveys a unified brand message when interacting with candidates. It makes sense to package your EVP with the same care you give to customer marketing. Consider digital brochures, a microsite, or video, which set the tone for hiring managers and candidates.

2. Mainstream your employer brand on social media.

If you offer an amazing employee experience, there’s no reason to confine your messaging to career sites. Share a behind-the-scenes view, positive employee feedback, and original thought leadership from your think-tank with a wider audience, including customers. If you make this a regular ingredient on your company’s main social channels, you can attract talent who may not be actively seeking employment.

3. Create places for candidates on the web.

There’s an entire range of digital “places” to attract talent and showcase company culture, depending on your needs and goals:

Careers page on your website
Recruiting and networking sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Facebook
Review sites like Glass Door
Integrated enterprise career portals

Start by enhancing the careers page on your website (and if you don’t have one, design one.) If you post openings on LinkedIn or use a recruiting agency, you may think it’s not important, but interested job-seekers conduct research, and your website is on their list. A prominent careers page compliments overall brand strategy (and it doesn’t need to include current openings.) Make it a place to get clear on company culture. Convey what it’s like to be a member of your team, and tell visitors where listings can be found. Career sites like LinkedIn are excellent for strategic campaigns that are targeted, where you speak to the talent you want to attract, like recent grads, innovators, or females.

4. Elevate the screening process.

Generate Excitement. Send a branded email to candidates who have a pending interview … and don't be shy about getting creative. Show your personality, give details about company culture, include your mission statement. Help candidates get to know who you are before their big interview. It’s natural to think… nobody else is doing this, our competitors aren’t doing this… but that’s exactly the point. When you’re competing for top talent, you want to be as memorable as possible.

Follow up. Remember that every candidate is a prospective team member (and perhaps a customer) and set an example that demonstrates the importance of excellent communication at your company. If you’re meeting with other candidates, tell interviewees what to expect in terms of time-frame, and follow up when you promise. We at Nielsen Associates provide outstanding communication throughout the hiring process. This is particularly helpful when you’re engaging several top candidates and there’s multiple interviews required to fill a position. On your behalf, our team can also provide feedback and closure to candidates who are no longer being considered, which results in a better overall brand experience.

Ask for feedback. Develop a series of surveys that you send to all candidates who you interview. This is a chance to show candidates that you value their relationship, appreciate their time, and want their insight on the experiences you’re providing. Ask for impressions on the screening process, and when applicable, their reasons for turning down an employment offer. You can refine all aspects of talent acquisition with the responses you receive.

Elevate your strategy with Nielsen Associates.
Make an outstanding impression on candidates from the start with Nielsen Associates. Request a free consultation with a recruiter to learn more about our range of services.

Productivity apps for the new year.

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 17:32:29 GMT

There's an app for that.

New Year’s resolutions, intentions, and goals. However you think of them and whatever you call them, it’s the time of year when we revisit our priorities and re-commit to what’s important. The great news? There’s so much technology to help you be successful at whatever you set your mind to. The trouble is it can take forever to sift through every app and platform that’s available. We’ve rounded up a collection of popular favorites below.

If your goal is: Creating a Roadmap

Check these out:

Aha

Start with goals, prioritize ideas and set your strategy in motion with Aha, the worlds #1 roadmapping software. Aha lets you build and share beautiful, brilliant visual roadmaps, define detailed project requirements, manage schedules, and create interactive visual dashboards to keep track of everything. It also comes with 'Aha! Ideas' which lets you crowdsource feedback and engage communities. Check out their site, start a free trial, or request a demo here: https://www.aha.io

Roadmunk

Roadmunk lets you align your entire organization under a strategic roadmap (any kind of roadmap) that you need. You can create roadmaps for individual projects, programs, and products; or you can design a strategy that encompasses your entire business or portfolio. There are technology roadmap templates, agility roadmap templates, and more. It’s an end-to-end strategic tool that lets you capture and prioritize ideas, manage timelines and resources, capture customer feedback, decide what to build next, and communicate your strategy with boardroom-ready visuals. Check it out on their site: https://roadmunk.com

If your goal is: Connecting your Team

Check these out:

Slack

On their site, slack says, “ you could get buried in email, or you could get real work done in slack.” Slack improves group communication by organizing collaboration into channels. Got a group project? Simply set up a project channel in Slack, add the project team as group members, and then get started. Teams collaborate with messages, have real-time discussions in chat, and share files; and Slack integrates with all major enterprise software platforms There’s no need to hunt through individual email strings in your inbox, and there’s greater visibility and transparency because everyone in a channel sees the same conversations - not just the ones they’ve been included on. Learn more here: https://www.slack.com

Igloo

With Igloo, you can build a digital workplace where employees feel like they’re part of a community. Igloo empowers organizations to bring people and resources together to tackle business challenges — and cultivate a strong corporate culture - even with teams working remotely. You can set up “team rooms” and "department zones", promote cross-functional collaboration, design a digital onboarding center to welcome new hires, manage a robust company directory, make organizational knowledge easily accessible to boost compliance, and that’s just for starters. Igloo comes with pre-built templates and solutions so you can get started quickly, and extranet capabilities so you can invite vendors and suppliers to join in. Discover more about their solution here: https://www.igloo.com

If your goal is: Managing Projects Remotely

Check these out:

Asana

Asana is full-featured project management software that works for simple projects, team projects, large business initiatives, and enterprise-wide cross-functional collaboration. Organizations use Asana to set strategic goals, receive and manage incoming work requests, and automate business processes so there’s less errors and less time spent on routine tasks. Project Managers can share timelines and task-lists, manage employee workloads across projects and see everything the team is woking on in one place. To learn more about Asana, visit their site and try it free: https://asana.com/

Trello

Trello is a flexible, visual productivity tool that’s fun to use. It’s great for work teams and personal use; whether you’re building a website, remodeling a room, or planning anything that’s important to you. Getting started is free. Simply sign up, set up a board for any type of business or personal project, add some lists (e.g. “To do”, “Doing”, and “Done”) and then invite others to help with the tasks at hand. Teams can collaborate on living documents, share visual resources and files, discuss everything they need to, and manage deadlines and dates. Check it out here: https://trello.com/home

Gratitude + Goals: Welcome to 2021

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 15:46:14 GMT

A look back, and a look ahead.

When ringing in the new year, it’s traditional to take stock. We look back on the year, recalling significant events at home and abroad. We recap the best and worst of pop culture; and we examine the trends in every industry - what surprised us, what flopped, what’s ahead on the horizon. We articulate change, and predict with hope for the coming year. You might say this is our New Year’s “ nature.” It’s just something we do, every 365 days, collectively, across the globe. It’s a retrospective that’s familiar.

As we return to our desks and wrap up 2020, the customary ‘year-in-review’ feels different; and why wouldn’t it? 2020 was the year that everything changed —and is still changing. The news of COVID-19 came early; shifting how we live and work. All year, the pandemic dominated everything.

A quick glance on Instagram reveals a crowd of people creatively booing and hissing as they work publicly on adjusting. This is the new normal, and it’s understandable. Whenever humans are required to move out of their comfort zone, manage unprecedented change, and do things differently, there’s always going to be resistance. This is true when you’re implementing new HR policies; it’s true when you’re rolling out new software to employees, it’s true when you start a new fitness routine. Change isn’t easy; and we are creatures of habit.

The headlines are still churning; additional shutdowns are happening daily in New York; and facemasks are still flying off the racks; but perspective is everything. When you look deeper than your news feed, there are remarkable outcomes that everyone, working together, brought about.

2020 was the year that we learned a lot about ourselves; as individuals, as family, as employees, and as members of our community. Despite (and because of) the challenges we faced, we have much to be proud of and grateful for:

We are agile.

In recruiting, we talk about agility all the time, but 2020 was a year where our ability was put to the test. We quickly found new ways to get work done; we mastered new technology; we revised our plans and time-tested strategies. Many were challenged to communicate and lead teams during the crisis, and rose to the occasion.

We are flexible.

Conservative companies are now demonstrating that flexible schedules, remote work, and progressive, employee-centered policies are not only possible, but effective strategies that cultivate work-life balance.

We are prepared.

In the world of risk-management, there were two types of organizations before COVID: those with a solid, comprehensive business continuity plan; and those with an emergency phone chain. Organizations with a solid plan were able to execute, evaluate, modify, and improve all aspects of disaster recovery operations. Organizations without a plan gained new perspectives on the importance of having a granular strategy and the infrastructure and resources to support it.

We are connected and equipped with technology.

We didn’t need COVID to remind us that you can shop online; and everybody knows there’s an app for basically anything you need. But what’s remarkable are the families gathering on zoom to honor holidays; churches offering zoom worship, and live yoga classes you can attend from your living room. There are students taking classes from home with more time for creative, independent work. And there’s work teams getting more done than ever before because they adopted faster, digital ways to communicate, collaborate, and share ideas. We have so much technology at our fingertips, and for many people, 2020 was a year to sample it.

A look ahead at 2021

Compensation:

Many companies made compensation changes during the crisis, while others need to make them in order to reopen, which may include hazard pay or compensation increases. If bonuses and annual salary increases were impacted in 2020, many are evaluating and revising their programs for the upcoming calendar year.

Productivity and Performance Management:

Progressive employers who want to continue nurturing a flexible, agile, remote workforce are considering new technologies for project and performance management. HR and Tech Leaders will need to select and implement the best tools so teams have the ability to communicate vision and business goals with impact, and managers can track, measure and reward employee performance remotely.

Culture, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

From a diversity standpoint, an obvious upside of having a remote workforce is the ability to curate teams from around the world with a variety of perspectives, experiences, and skill sets. The downside is having isolated workers, where it’s more difficult to furnish work environments that feel welcoming and inclusive; and it’s a challenge to infuse the culture of your brand into the workday. Companies who have mature culture and inclusion initiatives will focus on how to make their strategies digital; and companies just getting started will allocate dedicated resources to prioritize Culture, Diversity, and Inclusion.

Later on this month, we’ll be sharing a collection of productivity apps to help with the goals ahead. Whether you need to crystalize the vision, manage multiple remote projects, or strengthen team connections in 2021, you’ll want to tune in.

Managing the Mood is up to YOU

Sun, 20 Sep 2020 15:43:55 GMT

March Madness

We wouldn’t be human without our emotions—and they always serve a purpose. Yet —at least not until recently— it hasn’t been the norm to talk about how business and our feelings mingle together as we work.

And at some point, most of us have said or heard, “it’s business - it’s not personal,” to ease the sting during difficult decisions. But, in emotionally charged situations, regardless of lip service, the sting remains, and often there’s a ripple effect that’s far reaching.

The Ripple Effect

Consider this story about Tony, a VP who manages a large corporate team. In a meeting one day, Tony loses his cool and scolds an employee in front of others, angrily criticizing her for missing a deadline. Perhaps Tony thinks he’s showing the team how important productivity is. Or perhaps he had a moment where he allowed his emotions to control him.

On the surface, it may seem like there’s minimal damage. Tony bruised one person’s feelings in the heat of the moment. But here’s the ripple effect: After the meeting, members of the team who witnessed Tony’s outburst couldn’t stop thinking about what happened. For weeks, there was gossip, tension, and a general consensus that anyone could be next. Tony’s team grew fearful of taking risks and making mistakes. They were afraid to take initiative and adjust deadlines, which had a gradual impact on quality. A year later, during a performance appraisal, Tony’s annual bonus went under scrutiny because he was leading a team who failed to improve quality and innovate outside their comfort zone.

Now let’s take a different example. Consider the effect of giving someone a compliment. When you acknowledge a person’s strengths or appreciate their efforts, you’re directing the energy in a positive way for both of you. By expressing kind words thoughtfully and sincerely, you just made someone feel great —and now you feel great. This type of energy exchange builds better communication for both of you in the future. You’ll have conversations that are more sensitive, open, and less defensive.

It starts with YOU

Amongst business thought leaders, emotional intelligence (EQ) has been a hot topic in recent years. (We happen to think it’s so important for synergy and team-building that we developed an eBook you can download for free. ) It’s a set of four skills that let you manage emotions in the workplace, and every other realm of life. Some people are naturally better at it than others, but with a mindful desire to improve, anyone can practice strategies that lead to better communication, positive interactions, and stronger, more resilient relationships. Check out these ideas.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is a key component of EQ. People who are self-aware recognize their own emotions as they happen. It starts by paying attention to your own reactions; and thinking them through, to figure out why they’re there. Eventually (with practice) you’ll be able to identify the root of intense emotions quickly, so you can manage them on the spot, without getting bent out of shape.

Anyone who has lost their patience when their buttons are pushed (which is basically everyone) knows there’s more to self-awareness than meets the eye. It’s a lot of work to unravel our own tendencies and negative patterns, which are often deeply ingrained. For example, perhaps you tend to distract yourself with busy work instead of addressing what’s really behind a foul mood. Or maybe you grew up believing all wounds eventually heal on their own, so apologies aren’t necessary. It takes personal honesty, courage (and often discomfort) to see ourselves as we really are. Here are some practical self-awareness strategies to start.

Self-Management

Self-management is our ability to make positive, strategically aligned choices when we’re emotional. It’s the actions that we decide to take and not take — what we say aloud, and what we do. Sometimes a path of action isn’t easy to carve out when emotions are intense and our nerves are in knots. In this case, self-management is our ability to tolerate uncertainty and volatility as we explore our feelings and options.

In her book, Ignite Your Light, Jolene Hart describes the concept of negativity bias - which is our tendency to place greater significance on events and emotions that we perceive or label as negative. We react more intensely to negative events and remember them more vividly. But, self-management includes the choices that we make for our full range range of emotions, whether we’ve labeled them or not. It’s what we do when we’re feeling intensely frustrated, disappointed, provoked, fearful and defensive. And it’s also how we respond when we’re excited, happy, and confident. To make better choices in the heat of the moment, try these self-management strategies.

Download our eBook

Self-awareness and Self-Management are two core components of emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence is a set of four skills that let you manage emotions in the workplace, and every other realm of life. We think it’s so important for synergy and team-building that we developed an eBook you can download for free. Check out 9 Modern Skills Everyone Should be Hiring for tips on how to evaluate emotional intelligence during the screening process.

References:
Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Bradberry & Greaves: https://www.talentsmarteq.com
Ignite your Light, Jolene Hart: https://www.jolenehart.com/ignite-your-light

Communication Skills, Integrity + Self-Direction

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 18:45:56 GMT

9 Modern Skills Everyone Should Be Hiring For

It's time for a final sneak peek of our new eBook, 9 Modern Skills Everyone Should be Hiring . It’s a definitive guide that we designed with everyone in mind, where we clarify critical skills and interview buzzwords - like agility, emotional intelligence, integrity, and beyond. Follow us to get a download link as soon as the guide is available, and catch up here if you missed our other previews.

Our hope is that you’ll turn to our new guide as a resource whether you’re hiring, seeking employment, or looking to sharpen your skills. Read on.

7 | Communication Skills

What it is:

Many employers offer flexible, remote work arrangements as a way to provide greater work-life balance for employees. This has resulted in a workforce that’s increasingly global and remote, and great communication is more important (and more challenging) than ever. Many people confuse communication skills with detailed email that’s got perfect grammar and spelling. (That’s business writing — and it’s different than effective communication skills.) Employees who communicate effectively present messages that are clear, easy-to-understand, and are less likely to be misinterpreted. They simplify complex concepts and business processes and explain them to others in a way that’s memorable, easy-to-recall, and easy-to-retain. They consistently deliver messages that are concise and they know when to include visuals to convey meaning quickly and universally. It requires awareness, planning, sensitivity, and creativity.

Why it matters:

When an employee has exceptional communications skills , they are more impactful, engaging and influential - and all of these qualities are important when managing and leading others. They’re able to illustrate abstract concepts and complex business processes, so that their teams understand the data, information and performance targets the company is working towards.

How to spot it on an interview:

Tell me about a business presentation that you had to give in any of your previous roles.
Here’s a hypothetical: You just got a copy of a research study from your Senior VP. It’s got a lot of info that will help your team, but the document is long; it’s not an easy read; and you’re pretty sure you’re not allowed to distribute it electronically. How do you share it with your team?
When it comes to communication, do the details always matter?
Everyone’s email inbox is overloaded. How do you make sure your messages get open and stand out?

8 | Integrity

What it is:

Most companies have unique, specific, role-based definitions of integrity . For example, within in the IT Department, a company might require certifications in compliance, security administration, and data handling. And in the Marketing department, integrity might be defined as respecting the consumers right-to-privacy, avoiding misleading advertisements, and making credible claims that are backed by a guarantee. No matter how you define it, integrity just might be the most important quality listed on your Company’s job requisitions, because it’s about finding honest, ethical team members who understand the legality of the critical role that they’re interviewing for; and once hired, they act accordingly.

Why it matters:

Companies who want to minimize risk and build consumer trust hire experienced, ethical leaders to design and implement compliant business processes. Ethical leaders make it a priority to develop like-minded teams who have a strong sense of honesty, integrity and responsibility.

How to spot it on an interview:

What’s your personal definition of integrity?
Talk briefly about the advantages and disadvantages of transparency within an organization.
What are some ways that you determine whether an individual or business entity is trustworthy?
How do you ensure that team-members are consistently following company policy and procedures?
Give a specific example of a policy you conformed to with which you did not agree.

9 | Self-direction

Self-directed employees maintain and analyze business processes, identify issues, and propose solutions that are in alignment with overall business objectives. They’re often viewed as agile employees who make continuous improvements at their organization. Because they often work on goals that they set, for projects that they scope, they’re highly motivated, and have a strong sense of ownership over their work. Self-directed employees are typically responsible (and held accountable for) a business process, application, product, or business unit, and they feel a strong sense of commitment with minimal supervision or leadership. Many are experienced project managers.

Why it matters:

Hiring self-directed employees is an effective way to strengthen the leadership bench inside of any organization. These employees are naturally motivated, they’re intrinsically rewarded by the projects that they scope, and they stick around - they’re less likely to leave a company because they have a strong sense of commitment to work that they care about. During succession planning, self-directed employees are an internal talent pool. Companies often invest in these employees —developing and coaching them for increasingly challenging leadership roles.

How to spot it on an interview:

Talk about a project that you owned, start-to-finish. How did you scope it? How did you execute? How did you measure success?
Think of a time where you solved a problem that had several root causes. How did you analyze the problem, and what was the solution?
Tell me about some goals that you set yourself and how you went about meeting them.
Tell me about some projects you generated on your own. What prompted you to begin them? How did you sell them to your manager or peers?

——

Want more interview questions? Our eBook has all the goods. Download a complimentary copy here .

Need to collaborate with an expert recruiter? Visit nielsenstaffing.com and request a free consultation today.

—-

Credits:

Content Developer: Nine Planet Design

References: Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Bradberry & Greaves, 2009 | www.talentsmart.com

Self-Management, Social Awareness + Relationship Management

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 18:03:25 GMT

9 Modern Skills Everyone Should Be Hiring For

We're excited to share a second preview of our new eBook, 9 Modern Skills Everyone Should be Hiring . If you missed our first sneak peek, you can catch up here.

Our hope is that hiring managers will be able to find talent equipped to navigate the dynamic business landscape that we find ourselves in - for success in the modern workplace. Read on.

4 | Self-Management

What is it:

In our first installment, we defined self-awareness as a key component of Emotional Intelligence , and we explained how important it is as a professional skill. Self-management takes this definition further. People with self-management skills are self-regulators. They use the awareness of their emotions to actively, mindfully, and strategically choose what they say and what they do. They know there’s a ripple effect when expressing emotion, and they understand when to act and react —and when not to. In emotional, stressful or challenging situations, they “take a deep breath” and “count to ten.” They listen actively, analyze, and then respond thoughtfully and objectively.

Why it matters:

Companies who place a strong emphasis on leadership, risk management, and customer experience look for employees who are proficient at recognizing and managing their emotions. Employees with self-management skills are goal-oriented, big-picture thinkers who balance reason and emotion. They patiently maintain focus on business objectives, resist gossip, handle conflict effectively, and infuse professionalism into the work environment.

How to spot it on an interview:

How do you handle it when a client or team member expresses frustration or negative emotions during an interaction?
Here’s a hypothetical. You’ve sent your boss several emails regarding a project assignment that requires her support and approval. She hasn’t responded to your emails (it’s been over a week) and when you stopped by her office a few times, she waved her hand, indicating it was not a convenient time to talk. How does the situation make you feel? What would you do? And how would you address the issue with your boss?
Tell me about a time when you were around a group of co-workers who were gossiping about other employees. How do you handle this scenario?
Tell us about a time when you received negative feedback; How did it make you feel? How did you respond?

5| Social Awareness/Empathy

Emotional intelligence is more than recognizing and managing your own emotions. It also has to do with identifying, recognizing and understanding the emotions of others. This is known as social awareness - and it’s a pre-requisite for developing and managing professional relationships and leading individuals and groups. People with social awareness recognize emotional cues when they present themselves, and they listen and observe to accurately pick up on the emotions of others and understand what’s going on with them. They have a greater ability to approach situations appropriately, with empathy, and they communicate with a high degree of sensitivity.

Why it matters:

Socially aware employees work well with clients and other team members, who appreciate their ability to relate. They are often well-liked, well-respected and influential members of an organization.

How to spot it on an interview:

Here’s a hypothetical: The head of your department has been working hard to implement changes that will increase efficiency. Little-by-little, manual processes are being replaced with new technology automations. Many team members are nervous, because their workload will decrease as a result, and you’ve heard them gossiping about layoffs. Your department head, who often relies on you to inspire the team, has asked you to train a few colleagues on the new technology. How would you handle this?
Describe a scenario (in any of your previous roles) where empathy was required.
A well-liked member of your team resigned unexpectedly, and everyone is shocked and upset. What are some ways that you help the team refocus?
Describe a time when you had to deliver difficult news. How did you go about it?

6 | Relationship Management

What is it:

People with relationship management skills successfully manage interactions with others. They’re socially aware, easy to talk to, and often have an open-door policy. Professionally, they know there's a benefit in connecting with others (even those they’re not necessarily fond of). They manage the frequency of their interactions and form high-quality bonds over time with all types of people, which exposes them to many different perspectives. Often, they have the ability to identify common ground, which effectively alleviates stress, resolves conflict, and improves employee relations within an organization. Highly skilled relationship managers communicate clearly, and they can be relied on for direct, constructive feedback. They show appreciation, care and concern for other team members, reinforce positive behavior, and let others know that they are valued.

Why it matters:

Regardless of industry, business has always been about relationships - and forming and maintaining productive, collaborative, communicative relationships is not something that only the sales team needs to worry about. Now more than ever, business is conducted remotely across the globe in the digital realm— and skilled relationship managers utilize a variety of channels and technologies to effectively maintain and nurture their network of relationships.

How to spot it on an interview:

Here’s a hypothetical: Recently, two members of your team have had difficulty collaborating on a project. At one point they had a heated debate that escalated into an argument in front of the staff. Both are talented, valued, and experienced team members - and now they’re not even communicating. How would you approach this?
Tell me about a business relationship that has inspired you in some way.
In any of your previous roles, what are some ways that you have shown appreciation to clients/staff?
How do you stay in touch with your professional network?
Have you ever apologized to an employee? What happened?

——

Want more interview questions? Our eBook has all the goods. Download it here for free.

Need to collaborate with an expert recruiter? Request a free consultation today.

—-

Credits:

Content Developer: Nine Planet Design

References: Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Bradberry & Greaves, 2009 | www.talentsmart.com

Agility, Emotional Intelligence + Self-Awareness

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 17:46:01 GMT

9 Modern Skills Everyone Should Be Hiring For

The world is changing at the speed of light - and so is the workplace as we know it. To onboard exceptional talent in this dynamic landscape, your talent acquisition process needs to uncover the right skills for the role - and for the modern workplace.

In this three-part series, we’re sharing a sneak peek of our new eBook, 9 Modern Skills Everyone Should be Hiring . We designed it for you (and by ‘you', we mean ‘everyone'!) You’ll find it useful whether you’re hiring, developing your internal talent pool, seeking employment, or looking to sharpen your skills and advance your career.

Our hope is that hiring managers will be able to make better, more successful hiring decisions. Our guide gets clear on character attributes like agility, emotional intelligence, integrity, and beyond - so you can find professionals who are a great fit today - and in the future. And if you’re interviewing, you'll gain insight on how to convey a balance of these skills during the process.

For the first installment, read on.

1 | Agility

What it is:

Agile employees have a high tolerance for change. They have a fast-paced ability to adapt to change, manage change, and promote change adoption within an organization. They’re innovative, out-of-the-box thinkers who often solve problems and improve business processes using unique or unconventional approaches. They desire continuous improvement; and are often committed to personal excellence. They stay relevant in their industry through professional and personal development, and have the ability to evaluate new and emerging trends and make appropriate recommendations.

Why it matters:

We’re in the midst of an ongoing transformation. Our world is increasingly digital and diverse; and to remain competitive and be relevant, companies need to catch up (and keep up) to meet shifting expectations of consumers and employees. Companies who want to modernize their infrastructure, operations and corporate culture need agile leaders who can innovate and implement change at any scale.

How to spot it on an interview:

Tell me about an outdated business process that you’d like to change in your lifetime.
Describe a time during your career where you implemented a business process improvement.
How do you react to the standard “this is how we do things” response to a request for change?
How do you explain to team members that they need to immediately alter a process?
Describe what you currently do to stay relevant and up to date on trends within your industry?

2 | Emotional Intelligence

What it is:

Emotional Intelligence is actually a set of personal and social skills —and we’ll be breaking them down for you on a high-level in this three-part series. When someone is emotionally intelligent, they have the ability to identify, recognize, and unterstand their own emotions (personal competence) and the emotions of others(social competence).

Emotionally intelligent employees use this awareness to manage behavior, business relationships, and make decisions effectively.

Why it matters:

Studies show this skillset is so critical to success that it accounts for 58% of performance in all types of jobs. Drs. Bradberry and Greaves, who measured emotional intelligence in over a half million professionals say that, “Emotional intelligence is the single biggest predictor of performance in the workplace- and the strongest driver of leadership and personal excellence.”

How to spot it on an interview:

Tell me about a time when you were involved in a conflict at work.
Here’s a hypothetical: You’re a new employee and your boss has asked that you participate on project committee at work. Although they’re very friendly, all of the committee members seem demotivated and nervous, and spend the first meeting gossiping about a recent reorganization. How would you handle this?
When you need to give corrective feedback to a co-worker or direct report, what is your typical approach?
Tell me about a time when you needed to ask for help on a project.

3 | Self-awareness

What it is:

Self-awareness is a key component of emotional intelligence. Employees who are self-aware recognize their own emotions as they happen, and they understand patterns or tendencies over time. They can identify their own “triggers”; they understand what “makes them tick”; and they have an accurate perception of their own strengths and weaknesses. Employees who know themselves well are self-reflective; they analyze emotionally charged situations objectively, and regularly ask others for feedback.

Why it matters:

Self-awareness is an important factor in hiring for the right fit. People who are self-aware are more likely to pursue the right professional opportunities and achieve full potential because they know what motivates them, what they’re capable of, and what they find satisfying.

How to spot it on an interview:

Aside from an annual performance appraisal, how do you determine whether you are doing a good job?
Tell me about a time that you felt particularly motivated at work.
What are your office pet peeves?
Describe a situation in any of your previous roles where your patience was put to the test.
Do you prefer to work independently, or would you rather collaborate with others?

——

Want more interview questions? Download our eBook for 114+ fresh interview questions.

Need to collaborate with an expert recruiter? Request a free consultation today.

—-

Credits:

Content Developer: Nine Planet Design

References: Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Bradberry & Greaves, 2009 | www.talentsmart.com

Self-Awareness + Self Management Strategies

Tue, 01 Sep 2020 15:15:19 GMT

How to Get to the Root of Emotional Triggers + Keep your Cool

Put it into Practice: Self-Awareness

1. Get a journal

Get a notebook or use the notepad on your phone to jot down your reactions in the moment. It’s a private, safe way to instantly vent, identify your feelings, and understand your own patterns and tendencies. The key word here is safe! A journal is a place to be completely honest without directing negativity at others or taking action that could potentially damage professional or personal relationships. Write about what triggers you, and what gets on your nerves. It’s a place where you can see yourself more clearly; and over time, you’ll be able to track and celebrate your personal growth.

2. Identify your values

Make a list of your core values and beliefs. For example, if you think it’s important to follow the golden rule and rise above gossip, include this on your list. If you want to be patient with your staff or your spouse, jot it down. Flag the page and refer to it often. Use your list as a baseline on days where stress and emotions knock you out of alignment. Is your day-to-day lining up with what you value most? On days where things veer off-track, what were the triggers?

3. Experience emotions without judgement.

Most of us like to classify feelings into tidy categories - the good and the bad. But when we label feelings, we begin judging rather than feeling. For example, if you’re sad, which you’ve labeled as a bad emotion, you might immediately begin thinking of ways to cheer up (instead of giving yourself processing time so that the feeling can run it’s course.) Keep in mind there’s an entire range of feelings that shows up to teach you something important about yourself. If you push feelings aside or ignore them, they’ll bubble back up to the surface in a different way.

Put it into Practice: Self-Management

1. Stay on an even keel with regular self care.

In high-stress situations, it’s easier to keep your cool and stay focused when you’re taking good care of yourself. Be proactive by getting in your zzz’s, fueling up on nutritious food, and burning-off stress with regular exercise. Add downtime to your schedule (and catch your breath) with meditation, massage, or any relaxing activity that helps you de-stress.

2. Know when to press pause.

When a passionate office debate starts feeling more like toxic conflict, recognize it, and give it some space by detaching. Agree to break for twenty minutes; or sleep on it, and resume the conversation after everyone has taken an ample breather. Glued to your inbox and embroiled in an email blow-by-blow? Stand up, count to ten (or more) take a deep breath and reflect on what’s really going on. Would a phone call be better? In this situation, are there more effective ways to communicate?

3. Make emotion vs. reason lists to tackle problems

Struggling to make a decision? In their book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0 , Bradberry & Greaves recommend creating an emotion vs. reason list when you’re stuck in a battle between your emotional and rational brain. The process is simple. Make two columns on a sheet of paper. On the left, write what what your emotions are telling you to do, and on the right, jot down what your rational mind has to say. Then, ask yourself two questions: Where are your emotions clouding your judgement; and where is your rational mind ignoring important emotional queues? Are you operating like a bot without feelings, or letting emotions control you? Strike a balance with this list, and check out Emotional Intelligence 2.0 for hundreds of easy EQ strategies.

Download our eBook

References:
Emotional Intelligence 2.0, Bradberry & Greaves: https://www.talentsmarteq.com

Preventing Year End Payroll Phishing

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Cybercrime

Last year I was told by many Human Resources Professionals that they received a request from their CEO asking for a list of employees with salary information. Many were lucky in that they did not send information, but some were not and sent out sensitive employee information.

It turned out to be a phishing scam. All the employees’ information has been compromised and the work to repair and protect was tremendous.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, between January and March of last year, more than 55 businesses had reportedly been tricked into e-mailing criminals sensitive payroll data. It’s easy for anyone – especially unseasoned HR professionals – to become deceived when receiving fake email messages requesting sensitive employee information.

Rather than instill fear in your team about a cybercrime hitting your organization, it’s best to be proactive about minimizing the harmful effects of phishing scams.

Here are some key tips for educating your employees about how to identify and prevent phishing scams:

Train employees about cybersecurity awareness. When it comes to preventing cybercrimes, knowledge is power. As you onboard new HR professionals, cybersecurity education should be a top priority. Comprehensive cybersecurity training should be given to all new employees, while seasoned staff should receive refresher trainings annually. Ample training will help your employees become aware of how to identify an email threat, as well as how to communicate sensitive employee information. In general, it’s best to instruct your employees about the importance of avoiding electronic requests for sensitive data.

Establish policies for communicating employee information. Establishing strict policies and protocols for communicating employee information will help your employees learn how to spot red flags, as well as eliminate confusion about how to handle questionable electronic communication. For example, one of the most common phishing scams involves hackers getting ahold of employees’ W-2 forms, in which they can then acquire social security numbers, birthdates, addresses and other highly sensitive information. When it comes to the handling of sensitive information, your employees should follow a pre-determined set of guidelines before electronically releasing any private employee data to an unknown third party.

Build a culture of transparency. While training and education is beneficial, it’s important to remember that mistakes can still happen. Instead of threatening workers if an unforeseen incident should occur, it’s best to build a culture of transparency. Create a work environment in which every employee feels comfortable reporting incidents and asking questions about how to handle uncertain situations. By empowering your employees to speak up, you can help prevent cybersecurity problems from spiraling out of control and potentially resulting in a complete invasion of your employees’ privacy.

The rise of cybercrimes in the U.S. has propelled the need for companies to take preventative measures very seriously. Implementing the practices above will give your HR team the preparation and tools they need to handle cybercrime threats efficiently and effectively, preventing potential harm to your organization.

Are you lacking HR workers equipped to handle cybersecurity threats in 2018?

Call Nielsen Associates , a leading staffing provider of permanent and contract human resources, marketing, sales, information technology (IT) and accounting/finance professionals on Long Island and in the tri-state area.

The Value of Cybercrime Prevention Outweighs The Cost

Mon, 17 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

From poor hires to workplace injuries, costly mistakes happen at every organization. However, even just one cybercrime incident can cost your company millions of dollars. According to Harvard Business Review, the average annualized cost of cybercrime for global companies has increased nearly 62% since 2013, from $7.2 million to $11.7 million. However, security breaches don’t discriminate. Unfortunately, many small to mid-sized companies are hacked every day. With research showing the percentage of security breaches going up each year, it’s fair to say that investing in cybercrime prevention has become a necessity.

While it may be tempting to think advanced technology is the only answer to this issue, the reality is that your front-line workers are truly your best defense when it comes to preventing or reducing cybercrime’s potentially cataphoric effects on your organization. This idea is supported by a 2014 IBM report which stated that “over 95 percent of all security incidents investigated recognize ‘human error’ as a contributing factor.” With statistics like this becoming increasingly common, it’s the responsibility of companies to educate and empower employees about this issue. This is not just about having a reliable IT department, but rather making sure your entire team has ample knowledge and tools about how to spot potential cybersecurity attacks through email accounts. By directing your focus and attention on training your people, you can reduce the likelihood of harmful behaviors.

However, with a focus on human behavior being at the forefront of cybercrime prevention, remember that it’s the integration of both technology and training that make for the best outcomes. According to csoonline.com, technologies that are known to save companies millions on average include security intelligence systems, encryption, and advanced perimeter controls and firewalls. Accompanied with sufficient employee training, these types of software have highly significant investment returns.

The cost of cybercrime prevention surely outweighs the cost it can have on your organization. The first step to effective prevention is to employ a highly equipped workforce. Invest in your workforce with Nielsen Associates , a leading staffing provider of permanent and contract human resources, marketing, information technology (IT) and accounting/finance professionals on Long Island and in the tri-state area .

Nielsen Associates Blog

Can a search firm make you agile?

Here are five growing pains

﻿ we can help with.

#1 - When there isn't an internal successor.

#2 - When you're implementing anything new involving people.

#3 - When there's a crisis to manage.

#4 - When your business is expanding.

#5 - When you have a long-term skill strategy.

Choosing a Recruiting Firm:

Nielsen Associates Celebrates 36 Years

It couldn't be a better time to learn more about our services!

Wellbeing Makes it to the Boardroom

The corporate wellbeing industry is booming, but…

Executive Spotlight: Renée Nielsen

"Recruiting is about thinking. It’s about not only getting the right person for the role, but getting the right role for a person."

8 Ways to Enhance Recruiting

Every company is unique; so there's no 'one-sized-fits-all' approach. But these strategies deliver results.

Ask yourself what’s constant about your company culture, regardless of location.

As teams become remote, company culture is less about location-specific amenities, and more an indicator of the values, philosophies, and management strategies

at your company.

of employees with a structured onboarding program remain at a company for at least 3 years.

Unlike technical skills or industry knowledge (which can be trained), transferable skills are competencies that show someone’s versatility, adaptability, growth potential and leadership ability.

Moving Beyond Happy: Giving Mental Health a Workplace Promotion

Burnout is more than a Buzzword. Look out for the warning signs.

Practical Strategies for Taking Care of Mental Health

When the focus is shifted to wellness rather than happiness, all feelings are welcome and individuals are free to find value in the full range of their human experiences.

MENTAL HEALTH CARE STRATEGIES

FOR MANAGERS & EMPLOYEES

More about Melanie Auerbach:

References & Resources:

It's all about Relationships

Time to Engage

You can’t dispute the power of an engaged workforce.

So what exactly is engagement? And can it be measured?

The terms we use to define engagement matter, as do the questions we ask to measure it. Engagement is about commitment, caring, and the willingness

to put in effort.

What keeps employees engaged?

4 Ways to Engage Teams

“Listening to employees is one of the most valuable management practices we have. If you’re still running an old survey platform or haven’t yet adopted a continuous listening strategy, now is the time to do it.”

10 Reasons to Partner with a Search Firm

1. Build a Diverse Talent Pipeline

2. Get Expertise & Alternative Perspectives

3. Fill Challenging Roles

4. Be Confidential

5. Save Time and Money

6. Jump into Interviewing Top Talent

7. Stay Focused on Strategy

8. Improve Candidate Experience

9. Succession Planning

10. Hire Temps and Contractors

Amplify your Recruiting Strategy with Nielsen Associates

Reading Together

Have you ever let a book change you?

How to Share Books with your Team

Revisit the Classics, Get Inspired, & Discover Something New with Six of our Favorites

Confidential Searches

Recruiting Under the Radar

What is a confidential search? And when are they necessary?

Confidential talent searches are effective whenever you need to be sensitive about an opening.

They let you recruit discreetly without disruption from

employees, competitors, or the public.

What are the challenges? And how does a recruiting firm help?

Partner with Nielsen Associates for all of your strategic confidential searches.

Save time.

Find the best talent.

Stay focused on strategy.

Is it time to expand the C-Suite?

5 Reasons to Grow

Your C-Suite

CHROs: Starting With People

"New workforce models, leadership skills, and talent needs are just around the corner.

If the CHRO isn ’t planning for it, who is?"

CHROs Making an Impact

“For an organization to truly become human at its core, HR must take the lead in embedding human considerations into every aspect of work, collaborating with business leaders to reimagine work across the entire organization.”

Here's Why & When to add a CHRO:

Balanced Leadership

Human-Centered & Business-Centered Leaders

How do you feel about empathy?

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?

we can help with.