If there’s one aspect of business that’s becoming clearer as a consequence of the current challenges present in today’s global economy, it’s that the most valuable resource an organization has are the people found within their workforce.

That’s why one of the most critical tasks businesses face is not only finding talented individuals, but finding those individuals who are the best fit for their organization. Equally important to this task is ensuring that you take the necessary steps to recognize and develop your employees. Otherwise, you risk losing these employees you worked so hard to find as they go elsewhere in search of better opportunities.

Perhaps the best example of this is Zappos, which not only performs additional interviews of potential candidates simply to assess “culture fit”, but which also offers new hires $2 000 to quit their jobs following a four-week training period in order to ensure those who stick around do so for the culture and not just for a regular paycheck.

Of course, we can’t all be like Zappos nor should we even try to be. But what we can learn from them is the importance of having a clarity about what our vision is and which values matter to us in terms of fulfilling our objectives. Armed with this knowledge, organizations will have a better understanding of which candidates will be a good fit for their team, as well as what leaders need to do to retain and develop their employees so that they can provide even greater value to the organization in the years ahead.

In her article “Finding (and Keeping) the Right People for Your Business”, Gina Abudi, co-author of the book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Best Practices for Small Business” shares her insights on how businesses should go about selecting and interviewing potential candidates, and what steps to take to help employees with their professional development so that they can continue to be valued contributors to your team.

Disclaimer: My blog is a part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive monthly incentives to share my views on content I find noteworthy and relevant for my audience.

In my previous post, I wrote about how it’s important for leaders to take advantage of the quiet time that comes with the end of the year to take stock of what was accomplished over the last 12 months and reflect on what those achievements gave rise to in terms of reaching their organization’s shared goals.

Although my blog is not an organization, I felt this exercise would be also beneficial here, in terms of looking back over the year and reflecting on how far things have progressed in terms of the vision I have for my blog; of what I’d like accomplish and share through my writing for this site.

One of the things that stood out what was how fortunate I was to have so many talented and diverse writers write a guest post for my blog. I was also reminded of the many invitations I received from my blogging colleagues to share my writings with readers of their blogs, something I plan on doing over the course of the upcoming year.

As it seems to be a constant of human behaviour to want to create some form of a list to mark the end of the year, I decided I would end this year not by creating a “Best of 2010” list, but rather by creating a list of all the guest pieces that were presented here on my blog, as well as the various guest pieces I’ve written on other blogs over the past 12 months.

The pieces are listed below according to the month they were published in order to make it easier to peruse and discover some interesting reads to enjoy over the course of the holiday break. Click here to continue reading »”Looking Back at 2010 – With a Little Help From My Friends”

Recognition.

It’s something we all seek in our workplaces and yet, it’s the kind of feedback so many of us find noticeably absent in our interactions with those who lead our organizations.

There’s been numerous studies that show how making time to recognize the contributions of others helps to create both a positive environment and a more productive workforce. So why then are there so many employees who feel under-appreciated or under-valued by their organization’s leadership? To answer this question, we need to examine two aspects which are behind this quandary.

The first part of the problem is the misguided notion among leaders that their employees already know how good a job they’re doing and as such, there’s no need to point out the obvious to them. However, the problem with such thinking is that it’s self-centric, in that the leader’s focus is only on their own perceptions, as opposed to taking into consideration how their team members perceive the situation.

This leads to the second part of the problem over why there’s this lack of genuine recognition in the workplace. In cases where recognition efforts are made, leaders tend to concentrate on how offering such feedback benefits the company’s image, rather than as a gesture of appreciation or acknowledgement for the contributions of their team members. Indeed, for many leaders, providing recognition to their team is something that is addressed only in annual performance reviews or through formalized processes like ‘employee of the month’ programs. As most employees can attest, it’s a rare if unheard of practice to have leaders providing spur of the moment recognition for their efforts.

So how then can leaders address these two problems which are responsible for this lack of recognition in the workplace?

To find out my answer to this question, click on this link to read this guest post over at ReadyToFeedback.com.

Yesterday, I shared the wonderful news that my site is the recipient of 3 nominations for the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards. While I had expected a few congratulatory remarks, the actual response I received to this news was both astonishing and inspiring. Indeed, I’ve received so many warm wishes and congratulatory notes that I can’t help but feel both grateful and humbled to see so many as excited about these nominations as I am.

Of course, the reality is that this accomplishment couldn’t have happened without you, the readers of my blog. When I sit down to write about the ideas or insights I want to share here, there’s always that consideration in my mind of how this can benefit you. With so many wonderful resources and bloggers out there sharing great content and ideas, I want to make sure that readers are happy with their decision to spend some of their time here on my blog.

In this light, these nominations are as much your accomplishment as they are mine as I credit you, the readers of my blog, for pushing me to deliver content that inspires and motivates; that helps to address some problems you may be facing or simply getting you to consider a concept from another perspective. In many ways, writing a blog is much like the teamwork issues I write about in that for this effort to be a success, we must all work together to help each other become successful.

As such, I want to use this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for helping me as much as I hope I’m helping you. Thanks to the support and well-wishes you’ve sent me since I made this announcement about my site’s award nominations, I can honestly say that I feel as though I’ve already won.