Find Grow Keep

In this episode, Karen Kirton addresses how to make team meetings more effective and engaging, ensuring they serve a real purpose rather than becoming a routine obligation. She outlines a framework for structuring meetings that add value, encourage collaboration, and drive meaningful discussions.

In today’s episode, you will learn about:

• The importance of defining a clear purpose for meetings to ensure they focus on strategy, goals, and problem-solving rather than simply recapping past activities.
• How a team charter can set behavioral expectations, promote accountability, and create a respectful and open meeting environment.
• Why regularly scheduled meetings should be prioritized and attended consistently to signal their importance to the team.
• The role of psychological safety in fostering open discussions, allowing team members to express ideas and concerns without fear of judgment.
• The need for a meeting framework that goes beyond simple updates, encouraging brainstorming, innovation, and discussions on future challenges.

This episode provides practical strategies for leaders and managers who want to create meetings that truly contribute to business success rather than becoming a time-wasting routine.

Make sure to subscribe to stay updated with new releases every Monday.

We’d love your feedback on this series, just head on over to amplifyhr.com.au or connect with Karen on LinkedIn! 

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

In this episode, Karen Kirton explores the growing trend of boomerang employees—those who leave an organization and later return. She examines whether rehiring former employees is a strategic advantage or a potential mistake and shares insights from HR research and personal experience in corporate roles.

In today’s episode, you will learn about:

• How attitudes toward rehiring former employees have shifted, with many businesses now more open to the idea than in the past.
• The key benefits of hiring boomerang employees, including faster recruitment and onboarding, better cultural fit, and bringing back valuable experience and external knowledge.
• The risks involved, such as personal biases, unresolved issues that led to the employee’s departure, and the challenge of adjusting to changes in the organization.
• The importance of evaluating why the employee left in the first place and whether returning is truly the best decision for both parties.
• Strategies for proactively maintaining relationships with former employees to encourage valuable talent to return.
• Why organizations should still follow a structured recruitment process when rehiring, ensuring that returning employees align with current business needs and culture.

This episode provides practical advice for business leaders and HR professionals on how to assess the value of rehiring past employees while minimizing potential downsides.

We’d love your feedback on this series, just head on over to amplifyhr.com.au or connect with Karen on LinkedIn!

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

In this episode, Karen tackles a critical aspect of business strategy—developing leaders from within, especially in small businesses. If you believe that career development is reserved for large corporations, this episode is here to change your perspective and illustrate how nurturing talent internally can significantly propel your business's growth.

In this episode, you'll gain insights on:

• The Importance of Leadership Development in Small Businesses: Explore why ignoring career development can be detrimental, despite the common belief that it's only viable in large companies.
• Statistical Support: Learn from compelling statistics that underscore the dominance of small businesses in the Australian economy and the necessity of employee development to maintain competitive advantage.
• The Myths Around Cost and Feasibility: Dispel the myths that training and career development are too costly and impractical for small businesses.
• Practical Steps for Fostering Talent: Discover actionable strategies for small businesses to cultivate leadership qualities within their teams, which can lead to enhanced business performance and employee retention.
• The Long-term Benefits of Employee Development: Understand how investing in employee growth leads to higher engagement, productivity, and a robust organizational culture that attracts and retains top talent.
• Real-world Examples and Solutions: Gain practical examples of simple, cost-effective methods that small businesses can implement to support their employees’ career aspirations.

Whether you're a small business owner or a manager, this episode is packed with valuable insights and practical advice on how to integrate leadership development into your strategic planning. By focusing on developing your team, you can ensure your business not only survives but thrives in the competitive market.

Make sure to subscribe to stay updated with new releases every second Monday!
 
 Visit Amplify HR for more insights and resources. 

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

In this episode,  Karen  explores the idea that we can enable faster and better decision making through being clear on our business purpose and values. 

We dive deep into how clear business purpose and values are not just words on a wall but critical drivers for smarter, faster decision-making. 

You will discover:

-> The transformative impact of understanding and refreshing your business's purpose and values, illustrated through a case study of an organisation grappling with unclear vision and employee disengagement.

-> How the renowned Simon Sinek's "Golden Circle" and "Find Your Why" frameworks can help clarify your business's core mission, aligning every decision and innovation with your overarching goals.

-> The critical role values play in setting expectations for employee behavior, complete with a detailed explanation on drafting values that genuinely reflect how your organisation operates.

-> Practical examples from leading companies like Starbucks, Netflix, and Spotify that demonstrate how a well-defined purpose influences strategic decisions and fosters an environment of innovation and trust.

-> A comprehensive guide on integrating your values into every facet of your business operations, from hiring practices to daily decision-making, ensuring consistency and integrity across your company.

-> Insights on using values-based frameworks to tackle common business challenges, such as when to hire new team members, ensuring these decisions support your business's purpose and cultural fabric.

Make sure to subscribe to stay updated with new releases every second Monday!
 
 Visit Amplify HR for more insights and resources. 

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

In this episode, we provide alternatives to a high performance culture and how being innovative, customer-centric or purpose driven may instead be what inspires high performance in your organisation. 

Thanks to Warren Carney for agreeing to have his business case studied in this episode! 

We’d love your feedback on this series, just head on over to amplifyhr.com.au or connect with Karen on LinkedIn! 

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

In this episode, Karen explores how to start new employees with success.

Which means getting them up to speed quickly to increase productivity, increase engagement and lower employee turnover.

We’d love your feedback on this series, just head on over to amplifyhr.com.au or connect with Karen on LinkedIn!

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

As our businesses grow, internal communication becomes more complex.

What starts as 3 lines of communication with 3 people, explodes to 91 lines of communication when we have 14 people!

In this episode, Karen provides 4 practical ways to prevent silos in your business, and keep effective cross communication. 

Feedback on this series is always welcome, just head on over to amplifyhr.com.au or connect with Karen on LinkedIn and we can start a conversation. 

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

In this insightful episode, Karen Kirton addresses a common misconception about workplace policies. While many business owners fear that policies might complicate or bureaucratize their operations, Karen explains how the right policies can actually simplify decision-making and ensure fairness across the board.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

• The Importance of Compliance Policies: Understand the critical role that compliance policies play in safeguarding your business against legal issues and ensuring that everyone knows the standards of behavior expected in the workplace.
• Key Policies Every Business Needs: From workplace behavior to performance and misconduct, discover the essential policies that can protect and streamline your operations.
• Simplifying Complex Decisions: Learn how policies can remove ambiguity and make routine decisions easier, freeing up time and resources for more strategic tasks.
• Ensuring Fairness and Parity: Policies ensure that all employees are treated equally, promoting a sense of fairness that is crucial for employee engagement and retention.
• Practical Tips for Implementing Effective Policies: Gain actionable insights into how to draft, communicate, and enforce policies that work for your business size and culture.

Whether you’re a small business owner or a manager in a larger corporation, this episode offers valuable perspectives on how well-crafted policies can lead to a more efficient, fair, and compliant workplace. Don’t miss out on these expert insights that could simplify your business operations and enhance your team’s productivity.

Make sure to subscribe to stay updated with new releases every second Monday!
 
 Visit Amplify HR for more insights and resources. 

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

In this episode, Karen Kirton delves into the complexities of hiring in the current job market, heavily influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced immigration. She discusses the dual challenge of dealing with either a flood of applications for roles like administrative positions or scarcity for specialized roles, emphasizing the importance of clear and strategic hiring processes.

In today’s episode, you will learn about:

-> The impact of COVID-19 on job stability and how it has altered job market dynamics, leading to fewer people leaving their positions and a crunch in available talent. 
-> Strategies for managing a high volume of applications, including how to effectively shortlist and identify the right candidates using specific job requirements and skill assessments. 
-> The significance of being flexible in your hiring approach, considering part-time or adjusted schedules to attract the right candidates. 
-> Tips for crafting job advertisements that speak directly to the desired audience, ensuring clarity in the roles and responsibilities to attract suitable candidates. 
-> The benefits of initial phone screenings to gauge applicant interest and suitability before proceeding to more resource-intensive interview processes. 
-> Practical advice on incorporating job-specific tasks during interviews to assess candidates' skills in real-world scenarios. 
-> The value of psychometric and cognitive assessments in providing additional insights into candidates’ suitability for the role.

Karen also shares insights on maintaining open-mindedness in the recruitment process and the importance of internal clarity about the role requirements to streamline the hiring process and enhance the likelihood of finding the right fit for your team.

Make sure to subscribe to stay updated with new releases every second Monday!
 
 Visit Amplify HR for more insights and resources. 

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Hire right: Making your business a people magnet - Amplify HR

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/ 

In this episode, Karen Kirton delves deeper into the formal aspects of managing performance, focusing on performance improvement plans (PIPs) and their legal and cultural implications. Building on the previous discussion about Isaac, this segment guides managers through the steps of instituting a formal performance improvement process, should initial informal efforts fail to yield the desired outcomes.

In today’s episode, you will learn about:

-> The legal foundations of performance improvement plans, rooted in unfair dismissal legislation, and how these frameworks guide the creation of fair and effective PIPs.

-> The importance of preparation and structure in delivering critical feedback, including how to reduce the potential for an "amygdala hijack," which can derail constructive dialogue.

-> Strategies for initiating a performance improvement plan, including how to set clear expectations, define measurable goals, and provide necessary support to the employee in question.

-> The significance of documenting the process meticulously to ensure clarity and legal compliance, should the improvement plan lead to termination.

-> Tips for conducting performance improvement conversations, including how to communicate effectively, set follow-up meetings, and handle potential disagreements or complications that may arise.

-> The cultural impact of performance management on the team and organization, emphasizing the importance of handling such processes transparently and empathetically to maintain workplace morale and trust.

This episode equips employers and managers with the tools to manage challenging performance issues formally while maintaining fairness, compliance, and respect for all parties involved.

Make sure to subscribe to stay updated with new releases every second Monday!
 
 Visit Amplify HR for more insights and resources. 

Send us Fan Mail

Download our free guide, “Getting Stuff Done Through Your People,” giving you the tools to build a culture where people take ownership, goals get achieved, and results follow.

https://www.amplifyhr.com.au/downloadable/getting-stuff-done-through-your-people/