Mike Baumgartner's blog
Posted Sun, 09/26/2010 - 17:34 by Mike Baumgartner
Linus: "You really don't have anything to worry about Charlie Brown. After all, science has shown that a person's character isn't really established until he's at least five years old."
Posted Sun, 09/12/2010 - 14:17 by Mike Baumgartner
We all know what a performance review is, or at least we know a good one from a bad one. It is that yearly (if you’re lucky) time when your manager is required by some obscure HR person to fill out a lengthy, often multi-page form that essentially says one of three things: You are great. You are ok. You stink (usually followed by “You’re fired” in 90 days or less).
Posted Sat, 08/28/2010 - 16:16 by Mike Baumgartner
“You don’t have to copy me on every email.” This is one of the phrases I hear in employee performance discussions with regularity. It is usually followed by, in the time span of usually no more than a week, a glorious chewing out which starts with “Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Throughout the history of the world, even before we invented the phrase “keeping you in the loop,” we have struggled with who to tell what and w
Posted Sun, 08/15/2010 - 16:51 by Mike Baumgartner
I am sure everyone has heard the story by now of Steven Slater, the Jet Blue attendant, who decided that his day was not going too well. So lousy was his day that he grabbed the microphone, yelled obscenities, flung open the door of the plane, and escaped down the evacuation slide. Now this employee is a cultural hero. Facebook and MySpace pages have been erected singing his praises. T-shirts extolling his name are for sale.
Posted Sun, 08/08/2010 - 09:46 by Mike Baumgartner
Times are bad now. Ignore what you are reading in the news because, regardless of the unemployment numbers and the spin, the fact remains that it is an ugly job market. As I am always saying on my show, this is not about politics and I am not going to get into that slime pool (today) but I am continuing to hear that we have turned the corner and the recovery is happening. If that is true, which every fiber of my being says it is not, then we are in for a very ugly time.
Posted Sun, 08/01/2010 - 20:38 by Mike Baumgartner
There is always at least one person (and often entire groups) who, when chaos strikes the workplace, can be heard proclaiming in a half joking manner, "Hey, its job security!" People laugh and agree. I have even used the phrase myself when I’ve been told I have a Sexual Harassment investigation or an Employee Relations issue to deal with.
Posted Sun, 07/25/2010 - 17:31 by Mike Baumgartner
Recently I had a great debate on the creation of a policy that many people really didn’t think was needed. It brought to my mind the age old question of “What the Heck do we need HR for anyway?” Now this is a thought that I have often held as well, even though I happen to have made my living being part of that oft derided group. Few people understand exactly why companies do what they do.
Posted Sun, 07/18/2010 - 16:44 by Mike Baumgartner
“Why is everyone in this place a moron?” When that is the first sentence in a scheduled 90 minute productivity review with your boss, you know you have a long day ahead.
Posted Sun, 07/11/2010 - 08:58 by Mike Baumgartner
There are thousands of books on management styles. These books are written by some of the most notoriously happy, peaceful, and Zen-like people you have ever met.
Posted Sun, 07/04/2010 - 12:23 by Mike Baumgartner
There has been a noticeable shift in the workplace. When times are good there are many companies who go out of their way to create ways to make work less stressful, more productive, and, for some companies, more fun. Books about reward and recognition thrive and we talk about companies who have discovered that carrots pull employees willingly forward, and sticks… well, no farmer ever got their produce to market by beating their horse one step at a time.
