I have three people who report to me, and they generally carry out their responsibilities without any difficulties. But sometimes when I point out something that they haven't done correctly or on time, they say that they weren't clear on...
During Virginia Edelstein's annual review last year, it was decided that for the purpose of her professional development, she would work at identifying her next steps. Project director at Volunteer Vancouver, Edelstein had grown a bit restless recently. Discerning more...
I have been working with organizations, and especially managers, for 14 years now, and one thing is clear: managing people is hard. Some people want to be managers and seek it out. Others have been promoted to the position, regardless...
In the 1960s Robert Rosenthal, a researcher at Harvard University, conducted a revolutionary study in the classroom. At the beginning of the year, he administered a non-verbal IQ test to students in 18 classrooms at the elementary level. Based on...
There seems to be some confusion in the terminology that gets used to refer to practices in human resource development. Can you shed some light on the meanings of the words mentoring, coaching, training, development, and counselling? It's an occupational...
I have been studying happiness at work for many years now. One area I have been interested in recently is the performance review process. For most people I know, the review process is one in which your boss spends five...
As a new year begins and we return to a more “normal” schedule, thoughts of new beginnings may give employees renewed motivation and focus on achieving personal or professional goals. To accomplish this, they may consider taking night school classes,...
Economic and political uncertainty top global news headlines these days. Yet, in the midst of the turbulence, David Holtzman, senior knowledge exchange specialist at the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL), reminds us that “learning is the most important investment we...
The pace of life for many of us in the not-for-profit sector has become so hectic that we rarely have time to stop to ponder how we are doing. By the time your planned evaluation programs kick in, it is...
In an earlier column, you wrote about giving performance feedback. You used the words positive/negative, actionable/not actionable, and appropriate/inappropriate to describe different kinds of feedback, and you promised to revisit the issue in a later column. It wasn’t clear to...
