Just wanted to hop on here and say how much I loved today's post "Clarity is Kinder than Niceness". This is SO true. Employees oftentimes just want a straight answer that they can rely upon. It doesn't have to produce warm fuzzies....but it must be direct, consistently fair, and not take a degree in rocket science to understand. Don't YOU want the truth when you ask a question? So does your team. Here's just one example of how we put this into practice. At Cornelius, we have conducted a salary survey every year for the last 5 years. Before coming here, when I wasn't a part of that process at other employers, I ALWAYS questioned the legitimacy of this process because it was shrouded in mystery and rarely resulted in any salary movement. Since coming here and being fully responsible for the whole process, I turned this into a learning opportunity and invited all employees to attend. I showed them exactly what kind of information we collect, who we get it from, and what exactly I do with it to reach my final recommendations. I invited them to schedule time with me if they wanted to individually review the data I received for their positions. I had so many employees give positive feedback afterwards. Inviting them into the process gave the clarity they needed to be able to trust the process.

Before you order lunch or send a generic thank-you email, pause. Appreciation that improves retention isn’t about pizza. It’s about clarity, recognition, and consistency. Ask yourself: 🔷Do my people know what “great performance” looks like? 🔷Have I recognized specific contributions recently? 🔷Do my managers give feedback regularly — not just once a year? A single, specific acknowledgment tied to impact does more for engagement than any catered lunch ever will. 2 questions: How is your organization doing? What do you have planned for Employee Appreciation Day?

A hard truth that I've discovered recently. Most business leaders in small and medium-sized organizations don't care about HR. Or maybe it's not that they don't care, they just don't think about it. If they don't care about HR, what do business leaders care about? 🔷Revenue 🔷Growth 🔷Clients 🔷Margins And they will care about compliance if there is a charge or an audit. And “HR” feels like paperwork, policies, and drama. Here’s the disconnect: If we lead with words like engagement, culture, or employee experience… we lose them. But if we talk about: 🔷High performers burning out 🔷Managers avoiding hard conversations 🔷Underperformance lingering 🔷Turnover costing real money Now we’re in a business conversation and are helping to solve business problems. HR isn’t the point. Clarity is. Accountability is. Performance is. From what I'm seeing, that’s the language leaders understand. 💬 What are you seeing in your organization? Do leaders 'get' HR, or would shifting the conversation help? I'd love to hear your perspective.

This feels like a ‘just coffee’ day. Drop a meme or gif that shows how you are feeling today.

Happy Friday, everyone! Check out yesterday's post for a GPT to help you assess your organization's people and performance! If you are enjoying the support in the Hub, I wanted to share more info about the Badass Inner Circle. Differences are broken down here: 💪Badass HR Hub (Free): • Community • Basic resources/templates • Shared learning through posts/resources 💪💪Badass HR Inner Circle (offering at $29 a month for founding members, with the HR On Call function $150 value) • Everything you get in Hub plus monthly group coaching calls, including guest speakers on topics like AI, Recruiting, and more • Direct access to an HR consultant (on call) • A lot more resources, including all the forms, toolkits, and resources you need across the employee experience (hiring, onboarding, handbook template, employee engagement, and more). Need something that's not there. We will try to build for you. Could be a replacement for other services you may be paying for, like employers' associations or even SHRM. If you are interested in being even more badass, you can do it here! Cancel at any time. https://www.skool.com/badass-hr-inner-circle-6888/about