HR Problem Solver

Today we are looking at using behavioral assessments for more successful hiring outcomes. When evaluating candidates, hiring teams tend to focus on hard skills like computer proficiency or technical aptitudes, but even a highly qualified candidate can be wrong for a job if they lack the right soft skills such as emotional intelligence, collaboration and problem-solving.   Here we discuss how behavioral assessments can be used to help hiring teams support decision-making to determine who can work most effectively in the organization.
 
 Our guest today is Melanie Shaffer, President/Founder of Talent Suite. She has spent over 16 years in the Talent Management space both in a boutique firm setting and in a national publicly held recruiting firm where she received numerous awards for her national rankings and client feedback. She has always had a passion for partnering with her clients to understand their business challenges, values and culture allowing her to become a trusted advisor in developing meaningful and measurable talent performance strategies.  Melanie equips her clients with the ability to align, measure & design optimal human capital performance for selecting and managing talent by providing turnkey solutions, processes, training and coaching.
 
 Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
 During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   
 
 In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

There is a lot of talk about the changes that have taken place in the job market over the past few years, but how is that affecting the search for talent and what should a good recruiting process look like?  We are looking at the current job market and the importance of having a strategic, repeatable, and scalable process to get the right talent in your organization.  It is no longer just the job candidate proving themselves to the company, but the company now needs to sell themselves to the candidates at the same time.  We discuss how successful interviewing looks at skills and experience along with evaluating the candidate as a good fit for company culture and core values.  

Jolene Risch of Risch Results is our guest today.  Jolene’s philosophy is that a business is only as successful as the workforce that supports it. She has spent the better part of the last 25 years devising process consulting and staffing, performance and leader management solutions. Jolene is President and Founder of Risch Results, a certified women’s business enterprise.  She is passionate about helping businesses build, cultivate and nurture workforces that are in alignment with the company’s goals and growth objectives. 

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com 

We know there has been a shift in the world of work which means there also needs to be a shift in how leadership is responding and leading.  Employees have shifted from wanting a boss to really wanting a coach, from focusing on their weaknesses to focusing on their strengths, from prioritizing the paycheck to prioritizing purpose.  Join us as we discuss proven ways to shape leaders in this new work world.  

 Today, we are talking with Lee Colan, author of Healthy Leadership – How to Thrive in the New World of Work.  Lee tells us that healthy leadership is like a cultural magnet that attracts people to your team and the cultural glue that makes them want to stay. He describes how healthy leadership starts with the leader, but it’s really about the people you serve. As a leader, when you help others grow, you grow and growing people fuel growing, healthy organizations.  Lee Colan is the co-founder of The L Group, a leadership advisory firm that has been encouraging and equipping leaders for healthy growth since 1999. His firm has worked with virtually every industry including retail, energy, services, financial, manufacturing, healthcare, education and faith-based organizations. Lee is an organizational psychologist and CEO advisor. He applies a rare combination of skills as a corporate executive, business consultant, thought leader, prolific author, artful facilitator and engaging presenter.  Lee has authored 16 popular leadership books that have been translated into 10 languages.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com 

In this episode,  we are talking about how to build a great company culture.  You may have heard the saying "Culture is King."  Having a great culture gives your company a solid foundation for success in all other areas.  

Today, HR Problem Solver's guest is Trey Thompson, President of Star Industries who has long valued maintaining a strong company culture and believes it is critical to business success.  Trey has grown businesses through year over year sales growth, completing successful acquisitions, designing innovative marketing initiatives, and creating scalable processes that manage capex and human capital. As president of a highly successful company, Trey has led teams that increased sales over 35 percent in 12 months while designing and implementing operating and manufacturing processes that dramatically increased net income while improving customer loyalty.  He has created and led a start-up company, orchestrating the design and release of eight product lines, while building a successful sales organization that achieved $8 million in sales in three years. Trey believes in developing strong relationships and team synergies that promote a high level of performance and productivity.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Talent management when done well leads to a high performing workforce by attracting, selecting, developing, promoting and retaining the right employees to lead your company to success.  This processes continues throughout the employee life cycle.  Get some great tips here on building your talent management strategy as we talk with Talent Management expert, Julie Chance.

Today, HR Problem Solvers’ guest is Julie Chance, founder of Action Strategies By Design.  Her extensive background includes nearly two decades spent in leadership positions combined with an acute understanding of human behavior, uniquely positions Julie to support leaders in building high-performing teams and creating workplace cultures where individual contributors, leaders and the organization itself thrives. Julie is a certified Executive and Business Coach and a Neuro-Linguistic Programing Master Practitioner. She is also an accredited facilitator for the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ and a certified Everything DiSC® Workplace facilitator. 

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused. Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages. Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions. During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco. Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas. He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management. In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success. You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Have you been thinking you need to polish up your performance management process or maybe you need to implement one for the first time?  Either way you are going to be equipped with great information and pointers on what it takes to have an effective performance managment process at your company as we talk with performance managment expert Kay Nadel.

Today, HR Problem Solvers’ guest is Kay Nadel who has 15+ years experience in designing and facilitating leadership training and has had the pleasure of starting human resources and talent development divisions within several companies. Kay has a passion for coaching new managers and leaders to grow themselves and their teams as well as anyone that wants to explore their strengths and navigate the transitions in their careers.  As a certified Gallup Strengths Coach, she believes if we look at our strengths and what we naturally have within us, we can solve any problem that stands in the way of meeting our goals.

 Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

We are talking with employee engagement expert, Tom Horne today and taking an in depth look at all things employee engagement.  What it is, what it is not, how to get it, how it changes, how to get a good read on it at your company and more.

Today’s podcast guest is Tom Horne - An HR leader with People Element who is passionate about driving retention, culture, employee engagement, and improving the workplace for employees. With 20 years of people leadership and management, Tom is all in on helping move the employee experience forward. Tom believes HR is not an administrative function, it is a key driver of a company's success and should be empowered, trained and utilized to its full potential.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Today, we take an indepth look at Leadership Develepment and the importance of strong leaders building strong teams to carry your business forward.  Good leadership makes a huge difference in the workplace as it improves morale, increase employee retention and employee engagement and raises productivity.  Everyone can learn how to lead more effectively and impact those around them and those they are responsible for leading.  Some may be natural-born leaders, but most people need training and development to hone these skills and there is always room for growth.

My guest in this episode is Amanda Connelly, VP, Talent Development for Career Management Partners (CMP), Certified Executive Coach,  Certified Leadership Coach, and Certified Master Cognitive Behavioral Practitioner who offers a dynamic coaching approach coupled with assessment tools that promote authentic leadership in her clients. Amanda’s guidance has allowed her to inspire leaders through her broad expertise as a talent management industry leader.  She has partnered with executives and emerging leaders to drive operational effectiveness in the healthcare, hospitality, oil and gas, technology, non-profit and financial services industries.  She combines validated assessments and proven techniques to create personalized, performance driven coaching programs that result in increased enterprise leadership and acceleration of business goals.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Strategic Planning helps you look ahead and define where you want to be three to five  years in the future and then you can understand the steps that you need to take today in order to achieve your goals. So many businesses and business owners operate day-to-day without thinking about what the future holds.  Strategic planning is taking a step back from working in your business and clarifying where you want to go with your business.  Because once you have a clear direction then you can communicate that direction to your employees, then everybody can help row the boat in the same direction.  Strategic Planning is the basis of growing your business and defining your course going forward.  Figure out where you are going and then drive with intent to get there!

Today, I visit with Tom Bronson, Founder and CEO of Mastery Partners.  Tom knows what it takes to prepare a business for transition because he’s literally completed 100 transactions in his own businesses.  Now, he’s passionate about helping other business owners achieve the same success..  Mastery Partners developes exit strategies for its clients worldwide . Tom willingly shares his knowledge with everyone who will listen through his books, his podcast -Maximize Business Value podcast, his blogs and the free content on his website – MasteryPartners.com.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Today we discuss the basics of compensation that every business owner needs to know.  We are talking with David Garza, Sr. Principal at HR Catalyst on the key components to build a compensation strategy, why you need to make sure you are paying competitively against the external market, and finally how you integrate this into your overall HR strategy.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com