For HR teams who discuss this podcast in their team meetings, we've created a discussion starter PDF to help guide your conversation. Download it here https://goodmorninghr.com/EP261 

In episode 261, Coffey talks with Bernadette Jones about how leaders can identify, triage, and resolve workplace issues before they escalate into legal and cultural crises. 

They discuss leader avoidance of difficult conversations and its organizational consequences; distinguishing between people problems, process problems, and leadership problems; using a triage framework to assess urgency and risk in workplace issues; the TRIAGE acronym as a structured people problem resolution framework; the role of documentation in at-will terminations and discrimination defense; when to bring in third-party HR consultants or employment counsel; the cost and cultural damage of nuisance lawsuits and settlement checks; transparent post-incident communication strategies that protect employee privacy; the connection between ongoing feedback practices and employee trust; and workplace trauma, post-COVID mental health, and psychological safety as cultural imperatives. 

Good Morning, HR is brought to you by Imperative—Bulletproof Background Checks. For more information about our commitment to quality and excellent customer service, visit us at https://imperativeinfo.com.  

If you are an HRCI or SHRM-certified professional, this episode of Good Morning, HR has been pre-approved for half a recertification credit. To obtain the recertification information for this episode, visit https://goodmorninghr.com.  

About our Guest: 

Bernadette Jones is Co-Founder of Visionova HR Consulting, where she helps organizations lead at the intersection of compliance and culture. With more than two decades of experience in HR leadership, coaching, and consulting, she supports nonprofits, small businesses, and mission-driven teams in navigating difficult conversations, employee-relations challenges, leadership communication breakdowns, and workplace culture transformation.  

A national speaker, Bernadette has presented for SHRM, Nonprofit HR, Northern California SHRM, and other conferences across the country. She serves on the Northern California SHRM Professional Development and Conference Committee and chairs the NorCal SHRM DEIB Committee, where she helps shape content and conversations for HR leaders regionally and beyond. Bernadette has presented at SHRM conferences and nonprofit leadership events on topics including workplace respect, harassment prevention, inclusive leadership, and culture-first HR strategy.  

She is especially valued for helping leaders move beyond policy-only thinking and toward practical, respectful leadership that works in the real world. With her 20 years of experience, Bernadette has worked with executives, HR leaders, and managers who are navigating toxic employees, scary complaints, high-stakes terminations, and burned-out teams often without a full HR department behind them. She is known for her calm, candid style and her ability to translate complex HR and employment-law concepts into plain language leaders can act on right away. 

Bernadette Jones can be reached at: 

Email: [email protected]  

Website: https://visionovahr.activehosted.com/f/55 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernadettejones-visionovahr/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisionovaHR 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bernadettejoneshr/?hl=en#  

About Mike Coffey: 

Mike Coffey is an entrepreneur, licensed private investigator, business strategist, HR consultant, and registered yoga teacher. 

In 1999, he founded Imperative, a background investigations and due diligence firm helping risk-averse clients make well-informed decisions about the people they involve in their business. 

Imperative delivers in-depth employment background investigations, know-your-customer and anti-money laundering compliance, and due diligence investigations to more than 300 risk-averse corporate clients across the US, and, through its PFC Caregiver & Household Screening brand, many more private estates, family offices, and personal service agencies. 

Imperative has been named a Best Places to Work, the Texas Association of Business’ small business of the year, and is accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association.  

Mike shares his insight from 25+ years of HR-entrepreneurship on the Good Morning, HR podcast, where each week he talks to business leaders about bringing people together to create value for customers, shareholders, and community. 

Mike has been recognized as an Entrepreneur of Excellence by FW, Inc. and has twice been recognized as the North Texas HR Professional of the Year.  

Mike serves as a board member of a number of organizations, including the Texas State Council, where he serves Texas’ 31 SHRM chapters as State Director-Elect; Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County; the Texas Association of Business; and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, where he is chair of the Talent Committee. 

Mike is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the HR Certification Institute and a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). He is also a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) and teaches multiple times each week. 

Mike and his very patient wife of 29 years are empty nesters in Fort Worth.  

Learning Objectives: 

1. Apply the People Problem Triage framework to distinguish between people, process, and leadership problems before escalating to formal action.  
2. Assess the compliance and legal risk level of a workplace issue in order to determine appropriate urgency and next steps.  
3. Recognize how undocumented role changes, unclear responsibilities, and deferred feedback create conditions for employee conflict and litigation exposure