More than a living

As I was doing a little Kumquat research, I just happened to stumble upon this article, entitled “How to write a better performance review.”
It’s nearly a decade old.
The problem? It still smells as fresh as a daisy in terms of its guidance. Many of the tips still aren’t part and parcel of training people to […]

Firing an employee is a sensitive thing. You don’t actually hear about a lot of people getting fired these days — layoffs, “RIFs” and other corporate double-speak for letting people go is more typical. Actually firing a person is (in my experience anyway) pretty rare and usually only done in serious circumstances.
Well, except at Apple.
An […]

Catching up on some of my reading, obviously.
Dave Lefkow over on Director of Recruiting posits the question, “Who will own performance management?”
It’s a great question.
Everyone wants there to be performance management. Everyone realizes there is value there. Everyone is super concerned about losing talent. And perpetual turnover.
But no one seems to own performance management.
Systematic HR […]

Everybody loves positive feedback.
But, sometimes, positive isn’t necessarily honest. Or it’s honest, by simply dodging the real issues.
Q: How did I do on my project?
A: Have you been working out? You look great!
Lifehacker points us (”Learn the truth about yourself by conducting an online survey“) to one potential answer: an insightful post by Roman Rytov, […]

And you thought you were alone in your unhappy job situation?
Only 47 percent of Americans say they’re satisfied with their jobs, a sizable drop from the 61.1 percent who expressed satisfaction in a similar survey 20 years ago.
That increased unhappiness was detailed in a survey published Friday by The Conference Board, a business research organization, […]

In terms of performance reviews, would you prefer:

More reviews of your performance with more qualitative feedback?
More reviews of your performance with more quantitative feedback?
Any performance review with honest critical feedback, constructive or otherwise?
All of the above?
None of the above?

P.S. If anyone picks 5, I will cry. I’m not ashamed.

When Toby and I started scribbling the ideas that became More than a living, we were trying to find a way to describe the business ennui in which we both found ourselves seemingly irrevocably ensconced.
Part of that cathartic process was giving our goal a name. That concept was “more than a living.” That’s what we […]

As Kathy Sierra has taught me time and time again, a solid visual can really drive home your point.
I’m sorry? A picture is worth a thousand words? Hmm. That sounds like an interesting quote. You should consider maybe shopping that one around. Me? I’ll stick with the claim that Kathy taught me about visuals and […]

Reading and commenting on Rick’s run on cross-functional collaboration got me thinking, what the heck would be on my professional card if biz people had baseball cards?
My rookie card was near worthless. I was a moderately interested student at State U (read: didn’t flunk out my freshman year, and got my grades up by senior […]

According to the Houston Chronicle–or as the hip kids like to call it “The Chron”–half of your stellar employees may be looking for a new gig.
No. I’m serious.
Forty-seven percent of your most productive, most creative, most valuable workers are mailing out resumes, going on job interviews, even contemplating other offers.
I know. Take a second to […]