Brixey & Meyer Blog

Competitive Advantage

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 “A condition or circumstance that puts a company in a favorable or superior business position.”

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management

I stumbled into Human Resources. Prior to my Human Resources career, I had very little understanding of what “HR people” did. As the department of “NO,” I saw HR as a group of people isolated from core organizational goals. As a “siloed” department, I saw a group of people working hard to process paperwork, pacify disgruntled employees, and fix payroll and benefits mistakes. What a misunderstanding! 

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management

I believe that…

· Employees are capable of excellence. 

· Certain employee behaviors, which do not meet expectations can be improved upon by utilizing a SOLID corrective action process. 

· Great leaders recognize individual genius in people, and they know how to ignite it! 

· Great leaders must address poor behavior and performance at times to ignite this genius.

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management, Employee Retention, Corrective Action

“Every coin has two sides.” Just like a coin, every adverse employee act has various corrective action options. Even though a set of black and white guidelines denoting specific actions for every situation would be nice, it is not that easy. Employee behaviors and performance are rarely identical, which requires managers to understand the broader reasons for corrective action. In the end, corrective action exists CORRECT behaviors and/or performance contrary to the organization’s purposes, plans, and outcomes. Managers must understand the context of a team-member’s situation to know how to best utilize corrective action. 

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management, Employee Retention, Corrective Action

It was a cold December morning. With coffee in hand and the radio blaring out weekend football scores, Sam headed to work. It was his third year as a manager. His division was neither under nor over-performing, but it was another average year of performance. Sam thought through his day and remembered that he was to meet with Henry, his supervisor, for his annual performance evaluation. Sam knew it would be another review filled with circled numbers, meaningless reflection, and wandering chatter. Little did he know that this would be his last day on the job. 

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management, Employee Retention, Corrective Action

Greetings! It’s me your Job Descriptions. A few months ago, my cousin sent you a letter. As you recall, his name is Employee Handbook. After speaking with him, it sounded like he was helpful. In fact, he encouraged me to write you a similar letter. Now, please do not take offense or ignore me. I know I am not the center of attention at strategic planning sessions nor do employees discuss me at happy hours. Just like my cousin, we tend to age with few revisions or little attention.   

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management, Employee Retention, Job Descriptions

He asked the typical candidate question. “Tell me about your company’s culture?” I asked him what he meant. He responded, “I don’t know. I’m just wondering what it’s like to work at your company?” 

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management, Employee Retention

It is not hard to see why Output-Based Cultures create superior results and attract the best kind of people. Creating this type of culture is difficult work…especially if the organization has been entrenched with an Input-Based mentality. After doing the hard work, it is often more difficult maintaining an Output-Based Culture. To sustain an Output-Based Culture, it is important to recognize internal signs of slipping back into an Input-Based mindset. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a good start!

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management, Employee Retention

Energizing. Growth-minded. Engaging. Aligned. These are a words that describe an “Output-based” Culture (check out Part One of this blog series). When you walk into this type of culture, the energy is infectious. The conversations are compelling. The people are interesting. As a business owner, isn’t this the type of organization you want? This type of organization is one where people know what they need to do, own the responsibility to do it, and enjoy their work. This is true, but it runs deeper than just knowing what to do, owning it, and enjoying it. Output-based cultures reach deep down into the inner being of people, who work there. They attract the best people not because of their 401k, amount of PTO, or pay ranges. No, they do so because they understand what people want, and they communicate it early and often. 

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management, Employee Retention

In my last blog, I contrasted input v. output based cultures. Input-based cultures focus upon superficial metrics (hours worked, number of emails processed, number of meetings attended). Many organizations may not say they prize these things, but they are reinforced through misaligned purposes, plans, and outcomes. Output-based cultures focus upon metrics that matter (hitting revenue numbers, new product innovations, efficiencies in the production process, pipeline activities). Output-based cultures showcase alignment between purposes, plans, and outcomes. How is this done, though? How does an organization create an aligned and purposeful culture that produces desired outcomes? To understand this, I want to review the “Cultural Ecosystem."

Topics: Takeaways, culture, onboarding, hiring, Growing, HR, Human Resources, Growth, workplace productivity, Success, Management, Employee Retention