Because political beliefs are often connected to your employee’s own values, they can be intentionally personal and uncomfortable. Some employees find expressing their political beliefs at work empowering while others find it to be almost threatening.

April is Workplace Conflict Awareness Month. Nothing says conflict like politics. So what better month to answer the question: What’s an organization to do when political talk at work becomes disruptive and distracting? Link here

Political discussions can work both ways. Sometimes they help employees connect with each other and collaborate while other times they can create conflicts and divide relationships. What is the norm in your organization?

How can organizations build workplaces where staff members are encouraged to share their beliefs while building relationships and connections? Can such a workplace also be productive? Here are some ideas:

Set common goals and boundaries

• Set common goals for your organization. When people are focused on the mission and they know what is expected of them, they tend to shift their attention from negative issues to collaborative solutions.

• Create boundaries and encourage staff members to follow established guidelines for acceptable workplace behaviors including on your website and other electronic platforms. Ensure that every interaction between employees is professional including when discussing politics or other potentially difficult topics.

Have a Code of Conduct

• If you don’t have one, develop a Code of Conduct policy that includes subjects such as when and where political discussion is appropriate; dress code prohibitions including political slogans; bullying; and harassment of any kind which will help you navigate our political environment. Ensure your onboarding process outlines your organization’s policies and guidelines on political discussions at work.

Teach conflict management skills

• Train your employees to deal with conflict. Providing your staff members with conflict resolution skills can help them navigate our complicated and highly politized world.

• When situations arise and tensions are high, don’t let them go thinking they will resolve themselves. Investigate where the issues are and take action as quickly as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from HR or even a trained mediator.

• Train leaders to listen to staff members create an environment where everyone is encourage to share ideas and where ideas are not automatically dismissed.

Build a culture where everyone is valued and respected

• Encourage people to get to know each other for their strengths and how they contribute to your organization.

• Build a psychologically safe environment where mistakes are openly admitted and learned from. Encourage employees to be comfortable asking others for help to solve problems when appropriate. Make it acceptable to speak up even when the person might be taking a risk. This is how you build trust.

• Manage with empathy and understanding. These qualities build teams and strengthen relationships to avoid conflicts.

Workplaces that emphasize common goals tend to experience higher levels of trust and collaboration that lead to higher levels of productivity. Take steps to enhance your corporate culture to ensure everyone is valued and everyone is encouraged to respect each other. While eliminating political discussions in the workplace may not totally happen, they can be minimized with some attention and some understanding.

Don’t forget, you can learn more from The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook.

A character in a book is described as a thirty-five-year-old African-American man standing six foot six and every bit of three hundred pounds. He tells a colleague that when school officials at his kids’ school first meet him, all they see is a potential football coach.

Why was the character in the book thought to be an ideal football coach—because of his physical build, his race, or both? Likely someone made an assumption about him—stereotyped him.

Stereotypes are fixed and inflexible notions, unconscious biases which are part of our everyday thinking. They are generalizations based on misconceptions or errors in judgment. And when we assign them to a group, we've stereotyped the entire group.

Even positive stereotypes are disrespectful because they block our ability to look at people individually and recognize their uniqueness.

Think about a time when someone made an assumption about you. Ask yourself how it made you feel. Did it make you feel respected? Probably not because stereotypical generalizations tend to not be respectful.

Stereotypes can damage relationships and create communication barriers. Imagine the following conversation between our six-foot tall character when he’s asked by his son’s gym teacher if he’s interested in volunteering as an assistant football coach. He answers, “I’ve never even watched a football game.” Awkward.

So where do they come from, these assumptions and stereotypes?  They come from of our socialization, the way we learn to perceive our world, to interact with others, to act in certain circumstances, the rules and expectations, and what is defined as good and bad.  The socialization process allows a group or society to create members whose behaviors, desires and goals correspond to those deemed appropriate and desirable by that group. 

And keep in mind that we are all members of many different social groups, all of which have their own rules, expectations and cultures.

Stereotypes, however, can give way to prejudice—those rigidly held, unfavorable attitudes, beliefs and feelings about members of a group—groups other than our own. These unreasonable biases or opinions are often formed before the facts are known and can lead to suspicion, intolerance, conflict and worse further damaging interpersonal relationship and communication.  This isn’t good for the workplace nor for society.

So, how do we get back to respect?

It starts with you. Make the commitment to engage in respectful behavior.

• Be curious

• Discern between facts and fiction

• Listen to opposing viewpoints

• Be open to changing ideas

• Commit to sharing your ideas with others

Our differences are what make us unique and interesting. Start a conversation that provokes understanding and celebrates our differences. If you need some prompts to do so, The Conflict Resolution Phrase Book has plenty of ideas.

Beyond sharing his fortune, he has shared his wisdom in powerful ways. He says he measures success not in monetary terms but how the people who matter to you feel valued and loved by you and “whether you you’ve made enough of a positive impact for them to love you back.”

What can we learn from Warren Buffet about leadership and love?

• Work with people you like. He suggests working with people who share your values.

• Manage using your values. His advice is to embed your values into every part of your business life. This means how and who you hire, and how you promote, develop, recognize, and discipline people so that you are all on the same page. Using your values as a guide builds trust and encourages collaboration and community.

• Lead by the platinum rule which encourages treating others according to the way they want to be treated not the way you want to be treated.

• Treat others with empathy and compassion. Be curious and honest with everyone.

• Love your work and encourage others to do the same.

• Be energized by your work and encourage your employees to do work that energizes them. Helping them see the value of doing work that matters to them gives them the energy to make valuable contributions to your organization.

• Support their best work. Put people in situations where they can do their best work and provide them with every available development opportunity. Make resources accessible, including podcasts, webinars, books, articles, seminars, and conferences.

• Read as much as possible.  Buffet says that reading is a great way to constantly improve your skills and abilities.

• Give as much of yourself as possible. Be a mentor, coach, and advisor to staff members to encourage them to learn and grow.

• Given the opportunity to work for someone you admire, take it. You will learn a great deal from that person which will help you improve your abilities. And, if you are fortunate enough, that person will become a life-long mentor.

As you work to become the best version of yourself, remember to treat people with respect. Be sure they feel valued and that you encourage them to grow and develop their skills and abilities.  At the end of the day, we hope you want the people to say you had a positive impact on them.

Remember the famous words of poet and author Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Recently a friend who’s both a writer and actor, Mike Kimmel, gifted me a copy of his book 50 Secrets Nobody Tells You in Hollywood and asked me to review it. While his target audience is actors and aspiring ones, lo and behold, there are lessons that leaders (and everyone) can learn from Mike’s stories and musings.

• Listening. Two Ears. One Mouth. Do the Math. How many times have you wanted to say that to someone? Let someone else talk and in the process listen and learn. Quieting your body to quiet your mind allows you to focus. Practice active listening where you can absorb and be fully affected by the words of others in every situation.

• Situational Awareness. Pay Attention. Eyes Open. Head on Swivel. Understand your environment and the people in it. Be an active observer as well as listener. Learn to read the room, especially people's emotions, so you can address any situation appropriately.

• Preparation. Be Mega Prepared.  Preparation is key for an actor performing a part, and for a leader making a presentation or conducting a meeting. Understand your learning type. Are you an auditory, visual, or tactile learner? When preparing to present, incorporate every different learning style so each technique reinforces the others.

• Feedback. Get Used to Criticism. You Will Get It. Accept it graciously but learn to distinguish between the helpful and legitimate versus the completely unwarranted and inappropriate. Use the helpful criticism to learn, improve and grow. But don't be distracted by the criticism that's unwarranted.

• Renewal. Recharge Your Battery. From time to time, we all need to step away to reboot, refresh, and smell the roses. This isn't a luxury. It's a necessity to avoid feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and becoming burnt out.  Failing to do so, will affect performance on and off the job, and more importantly, one's health. Doing so will reenergize you.

• Details and Facts. Overcome Skepticism with Specificity. Providing specific information that people can verify builds trust. Vague statements and platitudes can erode your credibility as a leader.

• Get Out of Your Comfort Zone. Expand Your Radius. Widen Your Circle. Experiment with new things, both in your personal life, such as take up a new hobby, and in your professional life, such as volunteer to be on a task force that's outside of your area of expertise or learn a new skill. In this ever-changing world, being flexible is critical.

• Share Successes. Beware The Green-Eyed Monster. It’s important to be humble and gracious. Congratulate others on their accomplishments. Acknowledge when staff members contribute. The ability to congratulate others, celebrate victories, and recognize achievements makes you stand out in a crowd as a class act.

Leadership lessons can be found in the most unsuspecting places. Have a keen awareness and look for them. In the meantime, you can download Leadership Lessons from the Performing Arts today.

And Mike would love it if you picked up a copy of his book. He shares his insights through stories which are insightful and entertaining.  

Of course, we celebrate women and their achievements all year long, but from time to time we need to be reminded to take the time to focus on women.

According to history books, the first women’s day was celebrated in 1911 in Austria, Germany, and Denmark. However, in 1909, there was a march in New York City to ask for better working conditions for women and to highlight the need for women to gain the right to vote.

Since 1909, women in the United States and around the world continued to do great work in business, education, technology, and the arts. In 1972, Title IX (of the Education Amendments) was passed banning sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funding. As a result of this landmark legislation, more attention was focused on the need to celebrate the tremendous accomplishments that women have made.

A task force was created in California in 1977 titled Women’s History Week to persuade school principals to comply with Title IX. Then, in 1980, President Carter named March 2-6 as Women’s History Week.  Congress took it one step farther in 1981 and designated the month of March as Women’s History Month.

At the time President Carter said, “The achievements, leadership, courage, strengths, and love of the women who built America was as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.”

What took us so long to honor women? Now, that is a great question and I wish I had the answer.

I do remember taking my 10-year-old niece to the Smithsonian American History Museum. There was a section on the Suffragette movement, and I heard my niece cry out, “What do you mean women couldn’t vote?” I shared with her that her grandmother and all the women in the US at that time couldn’t vote until 1920. She was horrified.

I reminded her that it was the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution that gave white women the vote in 1920, which wasn’t that long ago.

So, take a moment during March to thank the amazing women who have made outstanding contributions to our world. While March is Women’s History Month, lets acknowledge the contributions of women when we see them. I am grateful that their work has created the amazing world we live in today. I look forward to seeing and learning about what women will do next.

Clarissa: As we know the label DEI can be triggering for some. We're not here to debate that but rather acknowledge it. How can we use that label and still make sure we're doing this important work that has not decreased but increased. How can HR professionals navigate that? 

Cornelia: The advice I would give gets back to my favorite word on the topic— respect. If you're getting push back internally in your organization or even externally, ask people, as I asked in the beginning of the discussion: What does it feels like when someone does something that makes you feel respected?  Let people know that DEI is grounded in respect—creating an environment where people can feel respected.

Barbara:  I would add my favorite word, listen. Listen to your employees. Listen to what they have to say, hear what is important to them, and build on that.

Clarissa: One person asked, “For those of us who work in higher education where we've had to eliminate DE&I from our language, how can we continue to support employees in this way while following the government requirements?”

Barbara: I think it's really significant that people are thinking about this. It doesn't matter what words you use, rather it's how you treat people, how you respect them, and how you bring them into your organization. Do they have a sense of belonging?  Let go of all that stuff, and I intentionally use the word stuff, that's out there. Treat people with respect, listen to them, and you're going to be OK.

Clarissa: There have been a lot of questions about rewards and driving engagement. Some people talked about small engagement rewards, having lunches or doing things for employees to feel connected. What happens when those gestures are disconnected from behaviors or actions of your leaders? How do we navigate those two polar opposites?

Cornelia: That's such a good question. I’ve witnessed leaders being asked how do you get people engaged, and their response is, “Oh, let's have some more parties and food.”  Hearing that response, I think no that's not what engagement is about. Things such as events, are great if they're sincere and if they really have some meaning. It's nice to throw lunches or ice cream socials occasionally so people get to know each other. But you must give people the opportunity to know the leadership in your organization as well. If you have these events, the leaders should be present and understand it's their responsibility to get out and mingle with people, to really learn what's on people's mind, to hear what the leadership can do better if people think that things aren't going as well as they could. It gets back to listening.

You can combine things. For example, give recognition awards but accompany them with a handwritten note from a leader. That becomes very powerful.

Clarissa: One person says, “Many organizations say they value inclusion, but engagement surveys still show that marginalized employees don't feel safe. What is one concrete behavior you believe every manager should practice weekly to close the gap between we value DEI, and I actually feel included here?

Barbara: I think back to the days of COVID when so many CEO's made personal phone calls to people just to ask how are you doing, without any real agenda. They were just listening, really caring about who that person is. I know that's not practical in so many large organizations, but I think that one of the keys is letting people know you care and recognize them as human beings.

Cornelia: And in larger organizations where the CEO can't do that for everyone, a department manager or a team lead can. However, have a mechanism for the messages to get from that team lead level up into senior management.

Clarissa: Thank you for your guidance, and thank you for reminding us, no matter what the letters are, the work still remains. As HR professionals we have a responsibility, and it's part of our mission to make sure that the work continues.

David McCullough

The great historian David McCullough was right. Diversity is nothing new. But listen to the talk about it today—political rhetoric—and the discussions are usually limited to differences in race or national origin or the color of an individual’s skin. It’s as if differences never existed—that everyone that looked the same was the same.

If you ever listened to the song Everyday People, Sly and the Family Stone sung about people of all different colors, shapes and sizes.  He sang about people of different beliefs, different groups, different occupations, different social classes, different generations, and different races.

So, let’s break it down and talk about the dimensions of diversity. There are primary dimensions of diversity, things that can be obvious to others, but things we can’t control. For example, color, shape, size, age, race, our ethnic backgrounds and our genes are all immutable characteristics or physical attributes that are unchangeable. Other examples are sexual orientation and gender identity—characteristics that naturally occur and cannot be changed. One exception might be physical/mental ability which can be altered over time as the result of illness or injury.

Then, there are things that we can control and that we can change. These are the secondary dimensions of diversity. Consider our individual beliefs and belief system. They may have been influenced by our ethnic background and upbringing, but we can still make choices to accept or reject early influences.  We may be born into a certain social class, but we generally have options to move among a variety of social and economic classes throughout our lives.  We choose how to make a living—our occupation—which can influence our social and economic class. Other secondary dimensions include education marital/family status, geography (where we live), and religious beliefs and practices.

Another important aspect of diversity are the cultural differences and variables that differentiate and distinguish us as individuals and groups of individuals.

Culture is the acquired knowledge people use to interpret experiences and generate behavior. Different cultures have varying approaches to (or styles of) authority, communication, problem solving, work, conflict resolution, change and time. Different cultures have different traditions—e. g.  musical traditions as McCullough noted—languages—spoken and written—customs, food and celebrations, just to name a few.

Looking at all these dimensions and variables, there’s a great deal packed into our own individual diversity. How does this impact organizations?

There are misguided beliefs that characterize diversity and DEI efforts as potentially discriminatory, such as diversity training encourages biases against white employees. Conducted appropriately, diversity education encourages respect for differences. It encourages inclusion, and inclusion doesn’t discriminate. It means everybody and every aspect of their diversity is represented. You can’t get rid of DEI any more than you can get rid of everyone’s uniqueness.

To create an inclusive and engaged culture, savvy organizations recognize that each employee’s opinion, point of view and contribution is shaped by their individual diversity. They encourage all staff members to appreciate and respect each other’s uniqueness even if they don’t fully understand it. That’s genuine diversity training and education.

She goes on to say that “you don’t have to know now many square miles there in Idaho or the chemical makeup of water or blood” but to be an effective mentor, you need to know and understand who your mentee is as a human being.

An effective mentor takes time to really get to know the person they are mentoring.

• What are they passionate about?

• What keeps them up at night?

• What are their goals?

• What are their strengths?

• Where do they want to improve?

Effective mentoring is about the person you are mentoring rather than facts about the business or workplace.  It’s all about the relationship between the mentor and mentee. It takes time to mentor and to mentor effectively. That’s why we pay so much attention to selecting the right match.

Once the match is made, an effective mentor takes the time to get know the mentee so that the mentee feels comfortable sharing what they are seeking from a mentor. A mentee might be seeking to learn a new skill or improve a weakness in their ability to solve a problem. It may be that they are looking for affirmation or support.

Once the mentor has an understanding of where their knowledge or experience can be utilized to move the mentee along, the next step may be to set goals for when and how the mentor and mentee will work together.

An effective mentor/mentee relationship need to focus attention on the well-being of the mentee, and this is where the “caring” come in. Mentors have to be sensitive to what is happening in every part of the mentees life. Mentors need high degrees of empathy; they need to be able to nurture the other person in order for the mentee to grow and flourish.

And yes, mentors need to build trust. In the mentor/mentee relationship, a great deal of confidential information may be shared, and each person needs to be able to trust the other.  Mentees need to feel valued and mentors make that happen by letting their mentee know they care.

It’s all about caring. Taking time to know the mentee as a person and not just as an employee is a great place to start.

Employees say narrative-based performance reviews are the fairest because numerical feedback doesn’t tell them how to improve. The HR Dive article, based on a study by the Cornell School of Industrial Relations, discussed different formats of performance feedback (as in annual performance review): numerical only, narrative only, or a combination of the two.

The study found “that the narrative-only condition was the best in terms of fairness perceptions” and “employees said they aren’t sure how to improve with only numerical feedback with no context.”  Should this come as a surprise?

It also went on to find that employees viewed numerical rankings paired with narrative feedback as less fair than narrative-only reviews, perceiving the numerical rankings as highlighting their weakness. The researchers, however, saw a downside to “solely narrative-based performance reviews” if organizations are trying to do things like administer bonuses or promotions.

This brought to mind the musings of a former colleague. He was critical of the annual performance review format because it tried to accomplish (and tie) too many diverse management decisions in one event or instrument: performance management, employee development, and salary administration.  He was a big proponent of separating these events through 1) frequent feedback—a novel idea at the time; and 2) separate and distinct development conversations. As he stressed, if you try to give feedback and talk about development when you’re doling out raises, all the employee is interested in hearing is “How much is my raise going to be?”

We echo many of these sentiments in the latest edition of The Big Book of HR. We wrote about the importance of frequent feedback and fueling future performance. Tips for frequent feedback include:

• Having casual ongoing check-ins

• Focusing on short and easy-going dialogue

• Explaining what can be done better

• Sharing ideas for employee growth and development

• Listening to the employee and their thoughts on their own performance

One thing that we stress is that performance feedback answers an employee’s fundamental question, “How am I doing?” Feedback is not only a developmental tool, but a powerful motivator and retention tool as well.

There is no on-size-fits all when it comes to performance management. Organizations have to decide what works best for them, and there are many new models that have evolved in recent years. We examined the common elements of developing objectives, performance assessment, documentation and data, and performance improvement.

Managers, however, must realize that performance management is not an annual event. At its very core is providing qualitative feedback—early and often.

It’s time to look at a new approach that enables sustainable growth and allows organizations and their leaders to move forward with focus and purpose. That approach is leadership clarity.

Leadership clarity provides a competitive advantage. It’s about doing what matters most, building leaders at every level, and supporting people versus exhausting them. Members of Bizwomen Leadership Council consider the following as imperatives to leading with clarity.

Create more leaders. By empowering your team with leadership skills of their own, you develop leadership capacity and increase empathy, autonomy and accountability, all while reducing burnout and turnover and increasing employee engagement.

This starts by being a positive role model to your team and living the organization’s values. Provide your opportunities to be exposed to other parts of the organization and encourage them to be curious and decisive.

Letting go. In other words, intentional delegation of those tasks that drain you.  Delegation is often viewed as one of the most important management skills. Letting go, especially of those things you enjoy doing, may be hard but it not only frees up your time for other duties, it also spreads the knowledge across the organization.

Delegation is also a way of developing team members by allowing them to experience something new. Handing work off to others supports creating new leaders while giving you a renewed focus.

Develop an enterprise focus. To have greater influence as a leader requires the ability to see with a wide-angle lens to gain an understanding of the needs of the broader organization. 

Developing strong, collaborative relationships with peers across the organization is so important because no one department or business unit stands alone. Leaders can no longer assume their technical skills in one functional area will ensure success.

Simplification. Gaining an understanding of how work is accomplished, streamlining processes and eliminating low- or no-value tasks enables teams to be focused, efficient and aligned.

Too often tasks continue being performed without a clear understanding of why. Have team members analyze each task by asking: 1) If it’s not performed, what effect will it have? 2) How many people or projects will it affect? 3) Are other tasks dependent on it? 4) Does it add value? Eliminating unnecessary tasks helps prepare for the final leadership clarity imperative.

Scale for growth. Working toward new goals and initiatives can be exciting and draining at the same time. Allow team members to be a part of it by allocating time for them to devote to these initiatives without expecting them to stack it on top of their normal daily duties.

The common theme of leadership clarity is that it creates capacity for an organization, not more work and not more control. It’s not doing everything. Rather it’s doing the right things. Leadership clarity is intentional and allows organizations and leaders to grow without sacrificing people along the way.

Over time, that pay gap had steadily narrowed. With Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination in all aspects of hiring, women entered more occupations that had been dominated by men and began working in the same jobs requiring equal skill, effort and responsibility, in the same facilities, under similar working conditions, and were paid the same as men performing the same jobs, as required by Equal Pay Act.

Unfortunately, the pay gap has begun to widen again. From 2022, when women were earning 84 cents for every dollar a man earned, it fell to 81 cents in 2024, according to the Census Bureau.

While it is too soon to pinpoint the root causes of the change or determine if this is a temporary shift, several factors may be contributing to this dynamic.

Potential Cause. Return to work mandates (RTO) are growing and more women are leaving jobs with companies who have them and are looking for other alternatives. A study by Baylor University found that firms mandating RTO experience an average 13-14 percent increase in turnover rates, with women being more likely to leave than men.

The lack of flexibility arising from these mandates is another reason cited for women’s departure. To maintain flexibility, they are more likely to make tradeoffs: taking a lower position with less pay elsewhere, moving to another industry with a demotion, or taking time away from the workforce.

Closely related to the lack of flexibility is the lack of family-friendly policies, such as paid family and medical leave. The rising costs of and disappearing options for childcare also remains a persistent barrier and is contributing to the pay gap.

The Effect. While some women may view willingness to take pay cuts as temporary solutions to immediate problems, there are long-term consequences for making this choice:

• Disadvantageous resume gaps, especially for women on a career trajectory

• The risk of returning to lower-level positions just to break back in

• Lost or delayed promotions, leading to lost wages

• Lower earnings in retirement (less money contributed to a 401K plan) and lower social security benefits which are based on earnings.

Consequences for the employer with RTO mandates include:

• Female turnover increases are nearly three times higher than that of males.

• Mid- and top- level managers leave in higher numbers than junior staff.

• High-skilled employees are more likely to leave compared to low-skilled ones.

• Reduction in competitiveness

• Departure of employees who are the hardest and costliest to replace

For organizations which are building and maintaining positive workplace cultures, RTO mandates can have the long-term effect of disengaging—rather than engaging—employees and creating a culture that is exclusive rather than inclusive.

Are we forcing 20th century rules on 21st century workers?

While it can be a challenge to provide guidance to someone who thinks of themselves as the smartest person in the room, your role as a mentor is to help them see beyond where they are now and help them continue to grow.

Spend time getting to know your mentee. Even high achievers have more to learn. As you build your relationship, encourage them to have a growth mindset. While they may feel as if they don’t need as much mentoring as others in your organization, help them to see that becoming a lifelong learner will have a significant impact.

Encourage them to take advantage of every opportunity your organization provides for skill development. Introduce them to books, podcasts, and webinars to instill in them the joy of learning something they can build on. Send them to industry conferences for learning and networking opportunities.

Challenge them whenever possible. Push them beyond their comfort zone to provide them growth opportunities. Be patient with your high achiever who thinks they don’t need help. Give them as many tools and lots of encouragement so they build even more skills.

Help them to focus on developing their emotional intelligence abilities. Unfortunately, some high achievers aren’t as aware as they should be of their need to better understand themselves, how they make decisions and how they relate to others. Your role as a mentor is to point out when they fall short or fail and help them learn from that experience. Give them examples of decisions they have made where the outcome wasn’t what they wanted it to be and help them see what they might have done differently.

One of your roles as a mentor is to help your mentee develop their professional network. Introduce them to people who think differently from how they think. You want to help them connect with people in different fields and to facilitate their ability to develop more than superficial relationships.

Mentoring a high achiever can be frustrating at times. Find ways to help them not take themselves as seriously as they may be prone to do. Maybe even find ways to interject some fun into your mentoring sessions. Encourage them to take time away from work from time to time to relax and regroup. Being a high achiever can be stressful.

While mentoring a high achiever is an honor and privilege, it can also be challenging and frustrating at times. Nevertheless, the rewards are great.

Remember, mentorship programs are powerful employee career development tools. Learn more in our free e-book that you can download here:  Essentials of Employee Mentoring Programs

Servant Leadership has been around for a while. Described as managing by putting people first or by putting people ahead of profits, servant leaders do not hide behind their titles. Rather, they work to be authentic and show their followers who they really are.

Servant leaders work hard to build trust. They manage with integrity, always keeping their word. Their employees can depend on them. Realistically, there may be times when a servant leader must take an uncomfortable or unpopular action, but those will be few and far between and carefully explained.

Servant leaders take the time to recognize the actions, talents, and abilities of their employees. They know the value of saying “thanks for a job well done.”

Servant leaders are collaborators. They don’t try to do everything themselves but rely on the abilities of others. They are willing to give credit to coworkers and others.

Servant leaders inspire others to do their best. Their energy and enthusiasm for their work are obvious to those around them. Even when things are challenging, they maintain a positive attitude.

 Some of the other qualities they exhibit are:

• They are accountable to the people they manage and they keep their word.

• They are lifelong learners who are always looking for ways to grow themselves.

• They are good listeners who work hard to make sure their followers feel heard.

• They put the needs of others  before their own.

• They accept responsibility for their actions without blaming  others.

• They encourage and accept feedback willingly.

• They work to build the strengths of their people.

• They encourage innovation.

• They build community in their organizations.

• They provide psychologically safe environments.

• They provide growth opportunities for their teams.

• They create inclusive cultures.

We encourage you to do your best to be a servant leader. You will see the impact that taking on even some of these qualities will have on you and on your organization.

Many organizations invest in developing mentoring programs which take commitment including time and monetary resources. So, why is participation in mentoring programs in most organizations less than desired? 

In recognition of National Mentoring Month, here are some strategies that can help increase mentorship participation: [Link here]

Market your mentoring program

As with most things in our world today, communication is the key to success. When designing or implementing a mentoring program, focus on letting employees know about and understand the specific benefits of the program.

You need to market to potential participants. They need to know how participating in the mentoring program will help them reach their professional and personal goals. Then provide them the resources to help them reach those goals and so employees will want to participate. Be sure your mentoring program and process is inclusive and accessible, encouraging the feeling of belonging needed for a successful and enduring program.

One way to capture people’s imagination and encourage them to want to be a mentor or a mentee is by gathering examples of how mentoring has worked for people in your organization. Interview senior staff members to gather their success stories of how mentoring impacted their careers. Then craft stories that can be shared with potential participants. 

Use the stories and examples when communicating via email messages, texts, or at all hands meetings to share information but also to encourage participation. Take every opportunity to see mentoring as a key to success at your organization.

Incorporate storytelling when sending the message that mentoring is not just a “nice to have program” but is an essential component of every employee’s career development.

Provide resources for mentors and mentees

Develop lists of podcasts, webinars, articles, books and more to help mentors develop their skills and abilities.

Hold activities for mentors and mentees to encourage participation. Get people together to share success stories or hold problem solving sessions to help each other navigate tricky situations.

Recognize and reward participation in mentoring programs. Research what would be meaningful to your staff so that you are rewarding what is motivating. For example, time off and professional development opportunities are highly valued by employees today so find ways to incorporate them into your recognition programs to encourage participation in mentoring programs.

Carefully match mentors and mentees

Make it easy to participate in mentoring programs in your organization. Take the time to carefully match mentors and mentees by getting to know their strengths and their potential. Emphasize the value that participating in a mentoring program will have on the employee’s development.

Remember, mentorship programs are a powerful employee career development tool so encourage your organization to find ways to increase participation. Your program will not have the impact you desire unless you actively work to communicate its benefits. All of these topics and more are included in our free e-book that you can download here:  Essentials of Employee Mentoring Programs.

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]]>Increasing Mentorship ParticipationCornelia GamlemSun, 04 Jan 2026 20:41:01 +0000https://www.bigbookofhr.com/blog/the-cornerstone-the-civil-rights-act-of-19645e6bc1bbb4b37b760412ac8e:5fcfcc565e198d16f19f963e:695ad05d7c1ee40e9315ba23Let’s start with the fundamental—the law that transformed the workplace and the HR profession. The time, legislative negotiation, and compromise that went into passing this law in 1964 was phenomenal. It was the first significant civil rights law since Reconstruction and was not without critics.

Title VII of The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, color, religion and national origin in all aspects of employment—from recruitment and hiring to discharge and layoffs and everything in between. It applies to private employers, labor unions and employment agencies.

While speaking to a group of women, a commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) once noted, “if it wasn’t for this law, most of us in this room would not have the jobs we have today.”

Consider a group of women sharing experiences with younger women about joining the workforce in the 60s and the 70s including questions posed to women in job interviews about marital status or child-bearing plans. Their younger colleagues were aghast.

The debate over Title VII—the longest in the U.S. Senate’s then nearly 180-year history—was contentious with opposition to the inclusion of many of the protections, such as religion. Ohio Representative John Ashbrook noted that "[i]t seems incredible that we would even seriously consider forcing an employer to hire an atheist."

Consider that in a news release issued August 22, 2025, the EEOC highlighted its recent enforcement actions to uphold “religious liberty protections for workers.”

While the EEOC’s recent actions regarding discrimination on the basis of religion is reflective of today’s political landscape—the current chair serves on a task force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias in the Federal Government—Title VII defines religion to include “all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief,” without specifying any particular religious faith(s).

Accounts suggest that the addition of the word "sex" was an effort to stop the bill in its tracks. New York's Representative Katharine St. George lobbied for protections based on sex, saying: "We outlast you. We outlive you. We nag you to death ... We are entitled to this little crumb of equality. The addition of that little, terrifying word 's-e-x' will not hurt this legislation in any way. In fact, it will improve it ... It will make it right."  (Eric Dreiband, Celebration of Title VII at Forty, 36 U. Mem. L. Rev. 5 (2005)).

Consider that in June 2020 Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch wrote the opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, affirming discrimination on the basis of sex applies to an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity under Title VII.

However, the EEOC’s enforcement guidance on harassment, including harassment on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity will likely be rescinded under the current chair.

Consider that the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act went into effect in 2023 requiring a reasonable accommodation to a qualified employee’s or applicant’s known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions (including elective abortions not medically necessary). The current EEOC chair has publicly opposed the “abortion-related” accommodation portion of the rule.

While Title VII is still the law, laws and their interpretations are not static. We have witnessed shifts over time as culture and political views change, and we discussed only some of those changes here. There were more in 2025 leading to fears we are losing ground in eradicating discrimination from our workplaces and society. People’s rights are important, and it is imperative those rights are protected.

The candidate experience.  As you embark on this role, remember that an interview is the first interaction that candidates will have with your organization. What kind of impression do you want to make? An interview is a two-way street. You'll be getting information, answering questions and sharing information with the candidate about the organization. Before you begin, research and learn as much as you can about the organization—its origins, its values, and its culture.

Candidate treatment through the entire application process is critical. Consider every candidate as a VIP during the interview. If you hire that person, you have changed their life. Even if you don’t, the experience can have real and lasting impact on them and the organization.

Screening process. Before you review resumes, first discuss with the hiring manager: the position’s qualifications, the department and its role in the organization, and most importantly, the manager’s expectations of a new hire and what a successful candidate brings. This will help you decide on the best available talent to bring into your organization,

Interviewing Guidelines. Carefully consider the following:

1.        Preparation. Before meeting with the candidate, take time to review the job requirements and the resume. Using information from the resume, prepare the questions you plan to ask, recognizing you may need to modify them during the interview.

If you are conducting a virtual interview, test the equipment and the platform beforehand, and install any required software updates. Be sure the lighting is good, and the setting professional. Look at the camera and not the monitor to give the candidate the sense that you're looking at them.

2.        Warm greeting. Whether meeting in person or virtually, be warm and welcoming as you greet the candidate. Many people find small talk to be unproductive and jump right into asking questions. However, having a couple of topics ready to open your conversation can help the candidate relax and be more comfortable. If you’re meeting in person, traffic is always an easy ice breaker. The weather works in any situation to get a conversation started.

3.        Open-ended questions. Start with open-ended questions that encourage the candidate to share their strengths and interests. Asking a question such as what interested you about this position that made you want to apply is an effective way to begin.

4.        Behavioral interview questions. Well-crafted behavioral interview questions followed up by probes allow you to learn more and decide whether to refer the candidate to the hiring manager. Ask for information that tells you more about the candidate than you knew from a resume. Consider asking questions like:

• Give me an example of a time when you…

• Describe a situation when you…

• ell me about a problem you were faced with…

5.        Follow-up questions. Responses to these questions give you a better picture of the candidates and how they will contribute to your organization. Follow up probes help to solicit as much information as possible. Use probes such as:

• How so?

• Tell me more about…

• How did you do that?

• Describe a time when you…

Presenting candidates. Consider all you’ve learned about the candidate and the manager’s expectations as you decide whether to present the candidate to the hiring manager. All are important considerations.

Finding the right people and hiring the best talent is critical to the organization’s success and success of your career. It is so gratifying to look back on all the great talent you helped discover—knowing you touched and made a difference in people’s lives.

Can you even remember the start of 2025 and your plans? More importantly, have you accomplished the vast majority of what you intended to do?

Now, 2026 is fast approaching. Have you mapped out your goals and projects for the coming year?

What’s in store for your organization in 2026? What are your plans? What challenges are you anticipating next year? How will you face those challenges? What changes will you make to meet these challenges and what outcomes will catch your imagination and interest?

It is obvious that AI is taking over our world in more ways than imagined. AI is likely front and center of the challenges and changes you will face in 2026. As we learn more about its capabilities and technology continues to reshape our lives, especially the workplace, we want to be aware of the potential negatives and the positives.

Don’t lose sight of the need for soft skills including interpersonal communications, empathy, creativity, and teamwork.  AI has yet to master any of these.

This leads to our 2026 plans and challenges. In addition to learning more about AI and how it can impact the work and the writing we do, we plan to focus on two large topics and encourage you to join us as we delve deeper into DEI and employee engagement.

We have been talking about employee engagement being the inclusion in DEI. What is inclusion?  It is all about making everyone count. It’s about making sure everyone has a voice and is heard. It’s about an organization’s practices and their culture. It’s about treating every employee with respect and providing them with a sense of belonging. It’s about encouraging everyone to speak up and share their ideas.

As we move through 2026, we plan to use our weekly blogs to continue talking about employee engagement and exploring what diversity really is, the cornerstones of its beginning as a business issue, and how equity and inclusion support it. Why this focus now? Because diversity is not only misunderstood, but the foundation of its history is rooted in overcoming discrimination and that often gets lost. History matters. And understanding how we got where we are today matters.

We encourage you to check out our website at www.bigbookofhr.com to review the hundreds of blogs we’ve written over the past years and read our new ones throughout 2026.

So, as you finalize your plans for next year, we invite you to join us on our journey as we spend time in 2026 exploring DEI and particularly inclusion, and the powerful topic of employee engagement. We will be checking in periodically to see how you’re doing and encourage you to send any questions or comments to us anytime.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday season and that remarkable things happen for you in 2026.

Quite the contrary. You were puttering. And experts say that such wandering around doing this and that is a form of mindfulness and it’s healthy for our brains and our physical selves.

Harvard psychology professor Ellen Langer describes mindfulness as the simple process of noticing new things, which puts us in the present and makes us more sensitive to context and perspective. Rather than being a form of meditation, mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and aware of your thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations and environment without judgment.

Enter puttering. Jeff Bezos starts his day puttering. He sips coffee, reads the newspaper, and has breakfast with his kids before they leave for school. He claims that his morning routine allows him to clear and center his mind so he can make high quality decisions during the day.

Think about your own normal workday which could be crowded with to-do lists, emails needing a response, or project deadlines. Does it leave much room for reflection or creativity? How productive are you (can you be) if you are constantly time-crunched? Are you putting your best efforts forward?

But wait! If you stop to clean out that desk draw—or a kitchen draw if you work from home—aren’t you being distracted from your work? Not really. Taking that break turns off the pressure to get things done and leaves room for ideas to form. Contrast that with the texts that beep across your phone asking you to do something inconsequential—like the one that beeped at me a few minutes ago while I was focused on writing this post. That’s distraction!

Puttering is positive. It allows you to accomplish something in a focused manner. The desk draw is now better organized so you won’t waste time the next time you go to look for something. There’s control which can reduce stress and be calming.

The challenge: Consider ways that puttering can be part of your day as a way to destress.

• Doing the dishes

• Watering plants

• Cleaning out draws

• Staring out a window

• Straightening a picture on the wall or dusting the frame.

These need not be things confined to the time you’re in the office. Creative ideas aren’t restricted to time and place. Don’t plan a puttering activity. Let it happen spontaneously and appreciate the small pleasures it brings in the moment.

As we approach the holiday season, leaders should be thinking ow how they are going to show gratitude to all the individuals who contribute to the organization’s success. And that begins with showing gratitude to the employees.

Why is it important to do so? Gratitude is a powerful driver of engagement, motivation, engagement and retention.

Research consistently shows that employees who feel appreciated are far more likely to stay with their employers. A 2023 Workhuman study found that organizations with strong cultures of recognition are four times more likely to improve employee engagement and twice as likely to see better retention rates. Recognition doesn’t need to come with a big price tag. It just needs to be consistent, authentic, and personalized.

When gratitude becomes embedded in an organization’s culture, employees are more invested in the organization’s mission. They take greater pride in their work, demonstrate higher levels of teamwork, and recover more quickly from workplace stress. Simply put, gratitude fuels inclusion and belonging.

Creative Ways to Show Gratitude. If you’re looking for meaningful ways to express gratitude to your team this season, and throughout the year, consider the following:

Personal Notes of Thanks. A handwritten card from a manager or executive is powerful and makes a lasting impression. Be specific about the person’s contributions: what they did, why it mattered, and how it made a difference.

Gratitude Boards or Digital Walls. Encourage peer-to-peer appreciation by creating a physical gratitude board in a shared workspace or a digital version through platforms like Slack or Teams. Seeing kind words from colleagues can lift morale across departments.

Time as a Gift. The holiday season can be stressful as people juggle multiple responsibilities. Offering an early release day, a flexible schedule, or an extra day of PTO during the holidays can go a long way to show you value employees as people, not just workers.

Charitable Giving in Employees’ Names. If your organization participates in community giving, consider letting employees choose a charity to receive a donation on their behalf. This blends gratitude with purpose and aligns your culture with broader community impact.

Shared Celebrations. Whether it’s a casual team lunch, a cookie exchange, or a virtual “cheers and gratitude” hour, collective celebrations build connection and reinforce a culture of appreciation. Include remote or hybrid staff (gift cards for restaurants for lunches or bakeries for cookies and treats) so everyone feels part of the experience.

Keep It Going. Don’t stop once the holidays are over. Keep a culture of gratitude. The most successful organizations incorporate gratitude as a year-round practice. Managers who regularly acknowledge effort and celebrate wins create teams that are more loyal, motivated, and connected.

As you leave for the Thanksgiving holiday, reflect on how you can show appreciation and gratitude. Remember that a simple thank you may be the most powerful retention strategy you have, and it doesn’t cost anything.

Special thanks to Amanda Haddaway, Managing Director, HR Answerbox. Need an experienced HR Consultant? Learn more at www.hranswerbox.com

One of the most important thing your managers can do is to let your staff members know they are valued. People need to feel as if the work they do matters and has impact but even more importantly, each person needs to know that they have value to your organization and to you personally. Valuing employees is vital to employee engagement.

Begin by getting to know your staff members personally. This starts in the hiring process. When interviewing a potential new hire, use that opportunity to learn what is important to them and what motivates them. Then, as you work together, you can build on what you know about them to develop a positive working relation.

Here are some ways to let your staff members know they are valued:

Listen to your employees. Consider doing satisfaction surveys periodically to measure how people are feeling about their work but always let people know survey results or they won’t trust you. If your organization works from an office setting, make sure managers leave their offices occasionally and keep their doors open when possible so that they have a sense of what is being discussed and going on and maintain an approachable environment.

Give feedback as often as possible. When employees know how they are doing they will feel valued. However, remember to only give developmental feedback in private.

Promote from within. Developing the skills and abilities of your employees so they can advance is another way to let them know they are valued. Research tells us that Gen Z, Gen X, and Millennials don’t just want to learn and grow, they require it. There are so many opportunities for your staff members to increase their knowledge and many of these opportunities are free or low cost so make them available when you can.

Encourage them to take on additional responsibilities. This adds to their sense of being valued. When possible, invite a high performing staff member to attend a meeting with you to expose them to senior management. Monitor the performance of your high performers so that they feel valued and that they don’t get bored.

Recognize your employees whenever possible. The best and most cost-effective way to recognize a staff member is to say thank you and mean it. Formal recognition programs can have impact but don’t overlook a personal gesture of appreciation. Handwritten notes may be old school, but they are powerful.

Review your total compensation. One last suggestion to consider is to be sure you are paying your people fairly and that your benefits meet their needs. Remember your goal is to ensure everyone feels valued so that they want to stay with your organization.

Build a culture that lets people know how much you value them and you will see your organization grow and your employees thrive.

If you want more tips on valuing and engaging your employees, pick up a copy of Essentials of Employee Engagement.