Blog

“But she’s a brilliant asshole.” I picked my jaw up off the table and looked around the room.  The remaining members of the leadership team did not disagree with the statement. And worse? In the context of our discussion about their talent strategy, (you know, that little strategy that which defines how you are going to identify, attract, recruit, onboard, develop, and retain, release or rehire the people that will make or break achieving your business strategy), they accepted the statement and conversation moved on. Major.  Classic.  Leadership Fail….of epic proportions.  And it happens all the time. You cannot.  I repeat, cannot afford to keep a toxic person on your team. Does firing someone on your team create an inconvenience for you, those that remain and your clients.  Of course, it does!  But I’ll take inconvenience any day over the ripple effect a toxic employee has on your company.  Not convinced?  These […]

We made it! When we launched the Talent Point Consulting blog last fall, the goal was to educate readers on each stage of the talent continuum. Week by week we’ve dissected each topic and offered up stories, resources, and a whole lot of opinions. So here we are at the final stage, Pillar #8 of the talent continuum:  Retain, Release, and Rehire. This is probably one of my favorite topics because it just might be the area that is most impactful to many businesses. It tops the agenda of what keeps CEO’s up at night, yet for some reason just gets lip service. Companies have retention issues and chalk it up to those transient millennials. Leaders lack the courage necessary to fire someone quickly when they know there is a mishire. Few talk about the importance of having a dedicated program to maintain relationships with former employees they would welcome […]

This post is the last in our series on recognizing and rewarding employees. As loyal readers will know, this is when we’d usually do a roundup summary of all of our blog posts on the topic, as well as some third party resources we’ve uncovered. But I’m not going to do that this time. A quick Google search on the phrase “rewarding employees” produces about 52 million results. Good lord. I’m not about to comb through these results, particularly when I have yet to see a resource that offers a unique point of view. Here’s a classic example. Let me draw your attention to this gem of an article “52 Epic Ways to Reward Your Employees.”  I saw this and thought “Hot diggity!” I mean, to use the word “epic” is bold. It has to mean this is the holy grail of articles that contains all of the answers. The […]

Technology has enabled the creation of products and services that are highly personalized. As a result, expectations are now set that everything can and should be customized. And I mean everything. Loyal readers know this theme is woven throughout the programs and processes that enable the talent continuum. In fact, we’ve talked about targeted marketing based on your ideal candidate and a hyper focus on development specific to the wants, needs, and desires of the individual employee as examples. But it doesn’t end here. I recently came across this article and shared it on the Talent Point Consulting LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook pages (shameless plug, follow us here for daily insights, articles, and ideas!). The article suggests that in the future (maybe even now) companies should leverage personas as they build compensation plans. Admittedly, I had never considered this, but it makes sense. With five generations in the workforce right now, it’s […]

As I was doing some research for this week’s blog post, something hit me. I was talking with friends, family, and a few clients, as well as reflecting on my own employment experiences, about the concept of reward and recognition. I was hoping to uncover a trend or two that would support a few basic methods of rewarding and recognizing teams that might be a little different than the typical suggestions of handwritten thank you notes, giving people an extra day off, or some other less-than-brilliant nugget you typically find online. What ended up happening was something completely different. What I ended up uncovering is that all rewards systems are inherently flawed and can have a negative effect on the performance of your organization and the retention of your people. Many “experts” will tell you to create a rewards and recognition program that is aligned to your company values. I may have been one of […]

I’m a huge fan of Simon Sinek. If you don’t follow him, I highly recommend you do. He has one of the top viewed Ted Talks on how great leaders create inspired action. The talk is an excerpt from his book Start With Why, which is one of the best books you can read as you think about building a team. At the risk of spoiling the Ted Talk or book, Sinek makes the powerful statement that “People Don’t Buy What You Do, They Buy Why You Do it.”  Let that simmer for a minute. Think about this from the candidate or employee perspective. If you were clear, and I mean crystal clear, on why your company does what it does, can you see how that powerful purpose would enable you to speak a different language that resonates with the right types of candidates and employees?  I would argue that […]

I love what I do. My days are spent working with leaders at organizations ranging from tech startups to consulting firms to consumer packaged goods companies, and everything in between. While my clients are diverse, one thing is consistent among them: They are on a mission to constantly improve how they attract, recruit, and retain talent. For them, becoming better isn’t something they just pay lip service to. We push the envelope on how to best engage with talent, and we also have some fun along the way. Speaking of fun, the next blog series is focused on just that. Pillar #7 of the talent continuum is Reward where we will discuss how acknowledging and recognizing your team is a critical culture builder and leads to a higher level of engagement (which spurs innovation and growth). How does your company reward and recognize team members? I’m always looking to add great stories […]

I hope this post doesn’t turn into a complete rant (or maybe I do).  I just can’t edit myself or hold back any longer. I talk to countless people every week…CEOs, other consultants, hiring managers, job seekers in every industry, geography, stage of life, and any other demographic you can think of.  Over the last few weeks, the conversations keep coming back to the same thing: When it comes to attracting, recruiting, developing, and retaining talent THIS SHIT ISN’T HARD!  Really.  I promise you it’s not.  Okay, let me reel myself back in and tie this post to the topic at hand…developing your people.  We set out to focus the last few blog posts on “developing” your sales talent. For one, increased sales never hurt. Two, many companies make the biggest investments in their sales teams.  And three, I wanted to introduce my friend Bill Morrow, who is a rockstar sales consultant, to my inner circle. If […]

I’ve had countless conversations with CEOs who believe in order to achieve top-line revenue growth, all they need to do is train their sales team more.  More training means more sales. More sales means more growth.  Easy peasy. Wouldn’t it be great if that’s all we had to do? Developing salespeople to achieve their full potential requires you to invest in them in ways you likely haven’t, at least yet.  It’s about learning who they are as a person at their core, to understand their preferences, motivators and mindset. For those of you who are onboard with this, don’t think “Awesome.  Let me call someone in HR to find some touchy-feely assessment we can throw on top of sales training and we’ll be sure to see sales results.”  Not quite. The key to achieving the growth you want for your company requires you to develop every member of your organization in this way, […]

Sales can be tough.  It’s often an easy profession to get into, but one that quickly eats up and spits out new graduates, career changers, and even some of the most experienced sales pros. Many sales professionals work hard and become “good enough”, but very few become great.  You know what I’m talking about.  You have one or two salespeople that are standouts, but many are simply “good enough.” Yes, they understand the product and market position.  Yes, they know how to sell value, not features and benefits.  And, yes, they always make their quota.   Of course they do.  Why?  Because most sales training programs are turnkey “how to” courses focused on product and process. We train people on the specifics of our product or service, show them what our sales process is, and tell them that if they master these two things and generate the right amount of activity (“Just […]