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We’ve Come A Long Way
This month we are celebrating 10 years in business. 10 years of helping small business owners, professionals, and leaders realize their potential, expand their businesses, and navigate through uncertainty. Time is a funny thing. Making the decision to open Structure for Success feels like yesterday AND a 100 years ago. My business doesn’t look the […]
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I9 Form Grace Period Ends Soon
The new I9 form has been the talk of the town for a couple months now. It was announced on July 21st that the new form should be used as of August 1, 2023. So why am I just now bringing it up? Because the grace period ends on October 31st and employers are required […]
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As the Workplace Evolves, Your Performance Reviews Should Too
The performance review systems of the past will not survive—nor should they. They were built for a workplace that no longer exists. Performance reviews must evolve with the changing workplace. Younger generations of empowered employees and the continuing proliferation of remote work are transforming the workplace. Much work today, especially knowledge work like the practice […]
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4 Ways to Encourage Accountability
We all know that accountability in the workplace is one of the driving characteristics of high-performing teams and offices. If accountability isn’t part of your company’s culture, you will struggle with employee performance and engagement. Plus, if employees can always escape accountability by making excuses, you will have a stagnant culture and workforce. Accountability isn’t […]
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Employee Recognition Programs
Most people I have met, managed, and worked with want to be appreciated. They want to be appreciated for their hard work, for hitting a production goal, or for contributing to the company’s success, for showing up on time, and for being a decent person. Even the person who says they don’t want the trophy, […]
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Outside Perspectives
Like many of my friends and clients, I am a corporate refuge. I spent years in the corporate world, and in that realm, the HR team was the core of the business. It served as the first touchpoint candidates encountered when applying for a job, it was the heartbeat for recruiting, and we dealt with […]
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Banging Heads and Soothing Feathers: Difficult Conversations
In today’s competitive, diverse, and fragmented workplace, conflict happens.Different people, with different work styles, personal and professional needs, are bound to clash about what to do and how to get it done. There’s no need to fear conflict, resolved effectively, conflict and its resolution can lead to personal and professional growth, and a more resilient workplace. Before […]
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How to Encourage Flexibility, Pivots, and Changes in the Workplace
If there is one thing the last few years taught us, it is how to be flexible. Now when someone has to reschedule it isn’t a big deal – we accommodate and make the adjustments. For us introverts, sometimes it is a blessing, sometimes it is putting off the inevitable. Either way we, dare I […]
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7 Steps to Secure Institutional Knowledge
The Great Resignation brought on by Covid-19 and new expectations of work-life balance have drawn greater attention to a perennial problem for legal entities and business owners, particularly small businesses—how to maintain institutional knowledge in the face of record turnover. In the April 2022 Gartner Business Quarterly, Linda Ruel writes that 71% of the CEOs […]
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Birthdays — One of the Most Common HR Traps
During my years in Corporate America, I didn’t give it a second thought when my offices had a birthday party for a team member. As my offices grew, we changed the ritual to once a month (from everyone celebrating individually), but the balloon, cake, and card were “normal” office policy. I learned the hard way […]
