Human Resources For Small Business

In this post-pandemic workplace, it’s harder than ever to lead effectively. According to Ginny Clarke, executive recruiter and consultant, leaders must learn to connect with the needs of their people in an authentic way. In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Ginny provides listeners with new takes on the Great Reshuffle, quiet quitting, recruiting practices, and top talent retention.   TAKEAWAYS When it comes to the Great Resignation, more than COVID is to blame. In recent surveys, the number one reason for employee frustration was a lack of career advancement. Leaders aren't being trained, expected, or incentivized to facilitate growth among their teams. For so long, people have been expected to work tirelessly and to be on call 24/7, and this has led to a great revolt in the workplace. Competencies should decide who you hire, not who you're most comfortable with and what is easiest. To find your purpose, allow yourself to explore, understand, and tap into what makes your heart sing.   A QUICK GLIMP

Dive into all things HR with guest Anitra St. Hilaire, HR expert and VP of People at ThreeFlow. Gain insight into recent innovations in the areas of compensation, benefits, employee needs, remote and hybrid changes, and effective communication. If you’re involved in any facet of HR, you don’t want to miss this episode.   TAKEAWAYS To be authentic and effective, leaders must be closely aligned with the company's values. When leaders know that they’re trying to aim for the same outcome, it’s easier to have those difficult and honest conversations. Find a seat at the table by finding ways to bring your unique point of view to executives and backing it up with data. Remote work presents a unique challenge for HR because you can't just replicate the in-person environment, needs, and challenges. HR leaders must be thoughtful about communication, particularly in asynchronous environments.    A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Small changes over time produce big results. In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Brandon Laws interviews positivity expert Neal Nybo, author of Workplace Positivity Guide and Workbook. Listen in to learn how incorporating micro-actions can be the catalyst for monumental change at work.    TAKEAWAYS Developing a third-person perspective of our thoughts helps us recognize our knee-jerk reactions and assumptions. To address gossip in the workplace, develop an escape plan to disengage.  Becoming curious is a specific way to interrupt your natural assumptions and open your mind to the truth behind an employee’s motives.  If you’re implementing micro-actions, smiling is a natural reaction, and this positivity is contagious.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

On this bonus episode, guest and Xenium employee Nicole Blevins joins us for an exciting "ask me anything." From bad interviews to milking cows, we get a glimpse into the life and career of our HR Services Training Manager.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Take a “room that’s doom and gloom and make it KABOOM” with our latest guest, James Ferguson, author of The Confetti Culture Playbook: How to Boost Your Team's Contribution and Impact. Listen in and hear some leadership insight and best practices from an award-winning hospitality expert turned author, speaker, and thought leader.   TAKEAWAYS Too many businesses have spent the majority of their time focusing on the almighty dollar instead of the people working hard to earn it. When companies realize that they’re responsible for the people who work for them, that's when you start to change your culture.  Business leaders must find ways to ensure that employees are seen, heard, and supported. Create a roadmap, or a habit-building checklist, so that each team member who runs a department understands the key actions that they should do daily.  When you build habits, you create consistency, and when you create consistency, it builds culture and improvement. Confetti is a tool that helps people understand not

Are you stepping into a leadership role for the first time? If so, those who have gone before have some valuable insight to offer. In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, host Brandon Laws sits down with Alli Murphy, social impact podcast host and Director of Events and Program Development at Engage for Good, to talk about the 7 things she wishes she had known when taking on her first leadership role.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

According to recent guest Bea Boccalandro, author of Do Good at Work, purpose is the greatest driver of workplace success. The world around us is “whispering its needs” to us — we need only set aside our wants and contribute to something bigger than ourselves. Don’t think you can find a greater purpose in your work? Listen in and hear the surprising stories of those who have made it happen   TAKEAWAYS Social purpose is any contribution to others or to a societal cause. In the last fifteen to twenty years, positive psychology has confirmed that the most rewarding part of work is contributing to something bigger than yourself. Leaders should want their people to know that their work matters because they have made meaningful contributions. The majority of employees view their job as a transaction so that they can have a life outside of their work. When organizations promote social purpose, they typically see higher performance, engagement, and retention.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Take a deep dive into the current market with guest Chris Cubbage, Founder of Retirement Advocates. In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Chris provides listeners with an in-depth market analysis with discussion topics ranging from investing and housing issues to productivity and financial literacy — and everything in between. If you’re wondering what’s around the corner and how to prepare for your financial future, you don’t want to miss this episode.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Quiet quitting may be a new term, but it’s not a new concept. According to our most recent guest, the pandemic has exacerbated an age-old problem: low employee engagement and productivity. Listen in as Brandon Laws sits down with Joe Galvin, Chief Research Officer of Vistage, and the two discuss how to set high expectations and boost productivity despite the challenges of the hybrid/remote workplace.   TAKEAWAYS Quiet quitting is the concept of employees meeting only the accepted standards and not trying to do more. Leaders must be intentional about engaging their teams, communicating clearly, and keeping standards high if they want to see higher productivity in a post-Covid workplace. The people who aren't working at home are the same people who weren’t working in the office; they just spend more energy creating the illusion of activity. Commuting is a waste of time, productivity, and emotional energy, and eliminating the commute frees people to get more done. Leaders need to recognize that it’s not about a

What can businesses do to empower and develop the marginalized? This episode features a timely discussion on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with intercultural practitioner Rahimeh Ramezany. From her own experience as an employee to her observations of marginalized groups in the workplace, Rahimeh exposes the power plays at work within today’s business world.   TAKEAWAYS Employers must align their values with those of their employees and customers. Companies show what they care about through what they say, what they do, and where they allocate their money. DEI practitioners should go out of their way to learn about different cultures and identity groups so that they can be more inclusive and sensitive to needs. If business leaders haven't even been attempting to check in with their people, it’s time to take accountability for that and make a change.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Ready to take your team to the next level? In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Brandon Laws sits down with leadership and teamwork expert Natalie Dawson to discuss her book, Teamwork: How to Build a High-Performance Team. Listen in to learn all about best practices for engaging and developing people. TAKEAWAYS Leaders must figure out the balance between striving toward the goals of the business and guiding employees toward their own career aspirations.  To create a pipeline of talent, be intentional about promoting the amazing things that your employees are doing on a daily basis. When onboarding, get people the information they need as efficiently and quickly as possible while also over-delivering with regards to self-development. Ask team members about their personal, professional, and financial goals so that you know how to coach them. invest in team members who demonstrate that they're willing to take criticism and feedback, develop skill sets, read books, and take courses so that they're ready

At Xenium, it’s always been about the people. We can’t support you and your people without taking care of our own. Which is why we’re so proud to announce the Portland Business Journal has awarded us with second place in their Oregon’s Healthiest Employer program. In this bonus episode, Brandon Laws sits down with the President of Xenium, Anne Donovan, to discuss some of Xenium's wellness program initiatives. A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

A waymaker is an active leader who opens doors, removes barriers, and ushers people through to greater levels of contribution. In this episode, Brandon Laws sits down with Tara Jaye Frank, author of The Waymakers, to discuss the inspiration behind her new book, a roadmap for fostering workplace equity. Listen in and learn how to recognize and seize opportunities to interrupt systems and processes that hinder equity in the workplace.   TAKEAWAYS Inequity is rooted in power dynamics which exist in almost every system in which we work. When we determine who to hire, who to promote, or who to invite into a certain room where information is being disseminated, we are witnessing power dynamics at work.  Power is usually concentrated within a select group of people, and whether that power is or is not shared dictates the degree to which other people can succeed. Equitable outcomes are tied to equitable opportunities, and not everyone gets access to those opportunities. If we don't train ourselves to interrupt some

In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Brandon Laws sits down with guest Leo Macleod — thought leader, consultant, and author of From the Ground Up. Listen in as the two discuss stories from Leo’s new book about those who have gone from contributor to leader despite the challenges of climbing the corporate ladder.   TAKEAWAYS At the start of the typical career, we are taught to own a task completely and to work independently, The challenge arises when we move into a position of managing other people because we tend to hold on to the project, which is not a good recipe for empowering others. Start by designing your ‘mountain’ —both personally and professionally — and that will inform what skills you need to develop to move forward in your career. Aligning yourself on a team with your mentor puts you in a position of learning the skills and getting the experience to progress in the workplace. Be mindful of how you're spending not so much your time but your energy.    A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Burnout has always been an issue, but with the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic stress has stepped into the forefront of the conversation about mental and physical wellness. In this episode, guest Jennifer Moss, author of The Burnout Epidemic, talks about the importance of recognizing and destigmatizing the chronic stress — worsened by the pandemic — so that we can find peace and productivity in the workplace.   TAKEAWAYS The World Health Organization has identified “burnout” as “institutional stress left unmanaged.” Employees who are experiencing burnout often feel stigmatized, so they don't speak up. During the pandemic, employees were still supposed to hit pre-COVID goals while also working toward stretch goals — this combination was a massive, unidentified chronic stressor. A Microsoft Trends report found that much of the global workforce was resigning due to workload and lack of empathy from their employers. Leaders must look at budget allocations and bifurcate between wellness and burnout prevent

In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Tiago Forte, author of A Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential, talks about his innovative, time-tested method for the organization of ideas. What he calls “building a second brain” is a process of organizing, storing, and reflecting on ideas — all to make an “external impact” in your personal life or career. Sit down with host Brandon Laws as he talks with Tiago about his new book and about how his “second brain” has revolutionized his education and career.    TAKEAWAYS The “second brain” is a system that allows you to preserve and store all of your most important information. Users reflect on, process, analyze, and understand this information to create an external impact. A common pitfall is becoming an information collector without any particular purpose in mind.  We improve communication by having better inputs: research, examples, metaphors, data points, stories — the supporting evidence that

Host Brandon Laws is joined by Xenium employee and HR expert Nicole Blevins! The two discuss Malcolm Gladwell's recent polarizing comments regarding remote work.  Sign up for Xenium’s annual What People Want from Work survey   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

According to guest Donna Cutting, culture consultant and Founder/CEO of Red-Carpet Learning Worldwide, when businesses focus too heavily on the customer experience, they can lose sight of the “heart” of the organization: their employees. In this episode, Donna shares insights and best practices from her new book, Employees First, to help leaders inspire and engage their people with positive culture.   TAKEAWAYS The pandemic revealed a need to transition from a “fix approach” to a deeper focus on appropriate relationships in the workplace. As companies focus largely on customers, they can easily forget to focus on the employee experience, resulting in lower engagement and higher attrition. When it comes to companies with great culture and great customer service, it often starts with a leader focused on purpose over profit. The more people feel involved in a vision bigger than themselves, the more likely they are to buy in and make it their own. Fair compensation goes hand-in-hand with a positive culture that

In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Brandon Laws sits down with Wendy Ellin, decluttering and organization expert, to learn how disorganization is a massive contributor to both personal and workplace stress. Wendy talks about her 3P Academy and best practices for helping employees find grea ter productivity, performance, and peace of mind.   TAKEAWAYS Employees are suffering in silence when it comes to disorganization, and most businesses don’t realize that the problem exists. 3P Academy contains targeted strategies for virtually any organizational issue, all aimed at increasing productivity, performance, and peace of mind. Many don’t attempt to get organized because they feel that if they can’t reach perfection that their efforts are futile. Perfection is impossible; instead, the learner should aim for 80%, an attainable organization goal. To get started and stick with it, you must want it and have a specific end goal in mind.   Sign up for Xenium’s annual What People Want from Work survey   A QUI

Host Brandon Laws is joined by Xenium employee and frequent favorite pod guest Lacey Partipilo! The two discuss various topics, from AI in the workplace to innovations in HR to favorite social media personalities.    A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST