Workforce development in the Permian is a hot topic. Still, as I have met with various educational and non-profit organizations, there needs to be more clarity between what the industry needs and how the word is getting out on professional development offerings for our workforce. I learned that some organizations could better market their offerings […]

I recently presented on my favorite Human Resources (HR) topics and was pleasantly surprised that more participants than not answered over half my questions correctly. The same day of the presentation, a client called and asked me a question; I answered that the client had to pay the individual who resigned unless they wanted to […]

Listen and learn, or a meltdown may be just around the corner. I pulled out eight or ten books on leadership skills for this article, and I came up with the same conclusion—the best manager skills are to listen and learn. Listen to your employees because they are often not just thinking about themselves. Employees […]

Jim Collins has written extensively about the concept of turning the flywheel. The idea is simple. Success breeds support and commitment, which breeds even greater success, which breeds more support and commitment… around and around the flywheel goes. People like to support a winner. I have written about leadership quite a few times and have […]

In December of 2021, I wrote an article about working where you want to work, not where your company physically exists. Now, in January 2023, let us revisit the topic. First, do you have to live where you work? Elon Musk may have ordered the Tesla and the Twitter workers back to the office, but […]

Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences. (Norman Cousins) Start the new year off right and decide to start a succession plan at a minimum of two levels of the organization: the middle and the executive levels. The new supply chain issue for 2023 is human capital or having enough employees to do the job. […]

The best HR audits are the ones you control. The worst are those prompted by a letter from a government agency. Clean up one issue at a time while there is still time. All organizations need a major HR audit every few years and an annual review to ensure that the policies and procedures comply […]

If you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. Thank you, Peter Drucker. October is the month to get ready for annual performance reviews. I wholeheartedly recommend evaluating the staff throughout the year with informal walkthroughs, supportive emails, and verbal or written corrective coaching to improve performance. The annual review should never be a surprise to […]

The number one problem in the Permian Basin is recruiting and retaining quality employees. Benefits, including health and supplemental insurance and retirement offerings, are vital to solving the problem. By this time, I hope most of my readers have selected an online, full-service human resource management system (HRIS) to service the organization from job inception […]

Hire right because the penalties of hiring wrong are huge. —Ray Dalio   In September of 2021, I cautioned readers to take care in hiring executives. The article was titled Buyer Beware. In that article I pointed out tips for reviewing resumes. I wrote about a specific situation, and it is worth discussing again. I […]