Meghan M. Biro, Author at TalentCulture

Networking: The Path To Becoming A Brand Ambassador

How many networking events do you participate in monthly? One? More than five? Do you loathe and avoid networking events? Or do you love meeting new people and building exciting new relationships? Are they online or IRL (In Real Life)? Many people I talk to are terrified of networking. Typical formal events are held after-hours, when they’re feeling tired and a bit beat up by the day’s work. Meeting with people with whom they have flimsy connections, often in a noisy bar with cheap wine and flat beer, is an act of will some people simply can’t or will not manage.

How To Make Work Matter

It’s the great challenge of leadership: how to inspire employees to bring their best selves to work and deliver consistent, stellar performance. It is accepted wisdom that happy (ok, I will even take content) employees are better performers. While there is much truth to this, it can lead to some common leadership mistakes. Yes, the perks in the form of benefits, free food, a gym, casual days, game rooms, etc. are important tools in creating a positive culture that makes people feel appreciated and happier. But these sweeteners don’t necessarily translate into increased productivity and performance. Creating a Work Zone of Zen Think of your own life.

Hiring Success Beyond The Gut Check

“I trust my gut.” Every time I hear an HR professional or Leader speak those four words, I get a sinking feeling in my own gut. Hiring is just too important to be left to something as vague and subjective as a “gut feeling.” There are amazing tools out there to radically up the odds of a successful hire. “Gut check alone” typically isn’t one of them. Every organization needs star players to succeed. Yet the percentage of new hires that end up as disappointments is estimated at 75%, according to research by Topgrading, a leading provider of online hiring tools. Those are expensive mistakes. Let’s take

#WorkTrends Preview: Building Strengths-Based Organizations

A healthy organization is built and runs on the idea that people are respected for what unique strength they bring to the table. A strength-based organization runs on this idea and creates employees who are actively engaged in their work. This results in better productivity, retention and profitability in the long run. Join this week’s #WorkTrends chat as we discuss a better way to create strengths-based organizations. Although this idea has been around for over a decade, most organizations have “false-started” on it. We will explore why this “false start” has happened and why it’s time to try a new approach.

Unleash Your Employees’ Super Powers

Make a list of five of your good employees. Not the stars, and not the laggards, but people who come in everyday, do a good job, and go home. (This applies to telecommuting roles too btw) Now take a look at that list, and take a minute to think about each of those five people. What percent of their potential do you think they’re delivering at work? 50%? 60%? 70%? Can you imagine them taking their performance up a notch or two? What would that mean for your organization’s results? It would mean a lot! So why not rethink employee engagement and retaining your talent that shows up every day? Unleashing Career Potential Matters Great leaders inspire

The #1 Reason People Leave a Job Might Surprise You

Do you know the number one reason employees leave a job? It isn’t because of their title, salary or workload. They leave because of their managers. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. It makes sense, and we have the research to prove it. Multiple surveys have confirmed a manager can make or break an employee’s experience. A study by employee engagement firm TinyPulse identified various behaviors impact retention, such as micromanagement and a lack of opportunities for development. Gallup found “at least 75 percent of the reasons for voluntary turnover can be influenced by managers.” Compensation, culture, colleagues, and balance all play a role—but

How Leaders Hire Top Tech Talent

The competition to hire top talent, especially top tech talent, has never been fiercer. And no wonder. There is no substitute for raw tech talent. It can take your organization to a whole new level of performance. Here’s a little not-so secret: one sizzling star employee is worth 50 so-so employees. The question becomes: How do you find these stars and then successfully recruit them for your company? Especially the passive recruits — those people who are perfectly happy in their current positions and will only leave when an offer is really tantalizing. What you don’t want to do is contact them cold with a

Happy Employees = Hefty Profits

I can walk into a company and tell within seconds whether or not its employees are well treated and happy on a basic level. The level of employee engagement, warmth and sense of a shared purpose is palpable. It’s something I simply feel after being in the business of talent management for several years. And while my conclusion may be subjective, there’s plenty of hard evidence that shows that happy employees lead directly to better performance and higher profits. Last year revenues increased by an average of 22.2 percent for the 2014 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For. And according to the

Telecommuting Is The Future of Work

In many companies I partner with, a certain percentage of employees work from home or are virtual employees – contractors or long-term freelancers. The percentage varies (ASTD, SHRM), from 30 to 45 percent, which seems consistent with what I hear from the HR practitioners and leaders that I collaborate with. It seems inevitable, then, that working from home, or being a virtual employee, is an established trend, Yahoo!’s action to limit remote employees notwithstanding. What Marissa Mayer did at Yahoo! Made sense for the struggling company: she was able to concentrate on getting people reconnected physically and in support of the company’s

#WorkTrends Recap: Spouses Working Together

There are so many entrepreneurs who have built businesses from the ground up — alongside their partners — but not many talk about the intersection of work and personal lives. During this week’s #WorkTrends show, Maria Orozova and Scott Thomas addressed how husband-and-wife entrepreneurs can work cohesively and collaboratively in the business world. They will share their first-hand experiences of working together as partner agency owners. Here are a few key points Maria and Scott shared: Knowing how your partner works is key to success Boundaries are important – leave work at work and leave home at home Opening the lines

6 Reasons To Start Live Video Streaming Your Brand

Recently a friend told me about Facebook Live and shook his head: Writing content is going to die, he said. We’ll all be communicating via video. I don’t know about all that. But I do know that livestream and live video is here to stay, and as a tool for talent, they’re another level of revolution. But rather than waste any words here (how old school) I’ll get straight to the point. Here are my 6 reasons to livestream and live video for your personal or employer brand: More authentic. This is general, but we know that in business and marketing,

Leadership Is About Emotion

Make a list of the 5 leaders you most admire. They can be from business, social media, politics, technology, the sciences, any field. Now ask yourself why you admire them. The chances are high that your admiration is based on more than their accomplishments, impressive as those may be. I’ll bet that everyone on your list reaches you on an emotional level. This ability to reach people in a way that transcends the intellectual and rational is the mark of a great leader. They all have it. They inspire us. It’s a simple as that. And when we’re inspired we tap into our best selves

5 Tips For A Winning Candidate Experience

Let’s face it – The hiring process is stressful for both sides. The job seeker is putting their talents and career future on the line, which is a vulnerable place to be. The organization is investing considerable resources in hopes of finding a star in the making. This is important stuff. And yet far too many organizations make a mess out of the candidate experience in the recruiting process. This is astonishing, and just plain self-destructive. Get this: The Talent Board, which runs the Candidate Experience Awards, surveyed over 45,000 job applicants about their experience. Of those who had a positive experience, 61 percent would

Top 5 Reasons HR Is On The Move

Once upon a time, most HR departments provided one-stop shopping for employees with questions or concerns about benefits, hiring, training, complaints, colleagues, etc. For leaders, HR was the place to go for recruitment, retention and terminations. HR is a critical function and most companies handled it in-house. That’s all changing very rapidly. Today an estimated 58 percent of large companies outsource all or part of their HR needs. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Neither. Like everything else in business and talent management, a one size culture fits no one. The key is to develop a strategy and solution

7 Characteristics Of A Social Leader

Okay, it’s time to come clean: Besides HR and Talent Management – I’m obsessed with social media, community, leadership and continuous learning. And I have been for years. I feel like the world is catching up with what for three years I’ve (obsessively, publicly, passionately) and many others who are champions of social community and learning have been saying – this innovation is a game changer for the world of work. The full implications and scope of social media and community learning are still unfolding, but let’s look at 7 ways leaders can use it to build a cohesive, charged-up, firing-on-all-gigabytes

#WorkTrends Preview: Spouses Working Together

There are so many entrepreneurs who have built businesses from the ground up — alongside their partners — but not many talk about the intersection of work and personal lives. During this #WorkTrends show, Maria Orozova and Scott Thomas will address how husband-and-wife entrepreneurs can work cohesively and collaboratively in the business world. They will share their first-hand experiences of working together as partner agency owners. Join us as we discuss how to: Step forward in your businesses and be confident in forging your own paths Break the norm by taking non-traditional approaches to partnerships Build a foundation to feel comfortable

Five Ways to Attack the Pay Inequity Issue Head-On

Despite laws, regulations and cultural uproar, pay inequity still exists. But Facebook rants and heated dinner conversations aren’t enough to make genuine change. I recently had an interesting discussion on this topic with the CEO of Salary.com, Kent Plunkett, about ways to attack the issue head-on. Here are five ways I recommend leaders, employers and employees work to fix this issue. Know and Acknowledge the Facts Pay equity facts (or inequity as it stands) aren’t haphazard stats that someone manipulated to make a point. Information is gathered by Federal agencies, including the Census Bureau, the Department of Education and the Bureau of

Leadership Is Catching A Mobile Recruiting Wave

Leaders, Recruiters and HR pros (even if it’s a team of one person) have a true breakthrough tool in mobile recruiting and hiring. And its usage is growing exponentially. Over a billion job searches are conducted on a mobile device every month. That adds up to a global talent pool that is far and wide. As a result, mobile-friendly career sites with intuitive job application processes are becoming an essential part of innovative recruiting teams worldwide. According to Aberdeen research, “SoMoClo [Social and Mobile Computing] enables organizations to provide their end-uses the experience that is connect (social), everywhere they go (mobile), with access to data whenever and

7 Traits Of Highly Influential Leaders

Without question, the world of work today runs on social media in some shape or form. It has changed the nature of work, play, friendship, commerce, romance — the list goes on and on. Where to begin? For leaders, social media is an extraordinary tool. It enables new levels of communication and community. It establishes an immediate connection between a leader and people. It runs in real time. And it creates a dialogue and a forum that can lead to increased productivity, unity, and profits. And yet an astonishing 70-80 percent of leaders aren’t even on social media. That’s like playing tennis with one arm tied

5 Ways To Use Mobile To Recruit Top Talent

These days, desktops and laptops are starting to seem like relics from an earlier age. Mobile rules. Any company that isn’t using mobile for recruitment and referrals is in real danger of losing out on top talent. Here’re a few quick stats to give you a clearer picture: 77 percent of job seekers use mobile job search apps in their job search; 81 percent of employees use their personal mobile devices for work; 23 percent of keyword searches that contain the word “job” come from mobile devices. It’s clear that mobile is the new HR frontier. Mobile is where top talent goes when

5 Fresh Trends To Fuse Fun And Work

“I never did a day’s work in my life — it was all fun.” ~Thomas Edison Edison’s point is well taken, but I doubt he ever worked in any of the deadening cultures most of us have had to suffer in at some time during our careers. I’m not asking for rainbows and unicorns, they call it work for a reason. But the fact is that leaders can add some zing, zest and just plain fun to being at work. And numerous studies have shown a lively, personalized workplace culture improves business performance (and profits). I’m talking about fun, but this is serious business. Global employee engagement is stuck

Five Ways Leaders Bridge the Generational Divide

We’re in the middle of a historic evolutionary leap driven by digital innovation and software technology. And it’s created a generational divide that holds both promise and peril for leaders, managers and HR departments. This is a large fail for those of us in the trenches fighting this ongoing employee engagement crisis. If you’ve ever watched a teenager (or younger!) on her laptop, mobile, or even iPhone, you know what I mean. She’s texting, Tweeting, Facebooking, taking a selfie, doing her homework and watching Katy Perry’s new video on her iPhone — all at the same time. Without breaking a sweat. Her

#WorkTrends Recap: #SHRM16 Preview: Professional Development & Relationship-Building

In the world of Human Resources, professional development, networking and relationship-building are not just nice-to-have; they are must-haves. Luckily, conference attendance is a solid way to maintain these important connections. With the workforce and workplace changing rapidly, regular conference attendance informs attendees about the latest trends and best practices, which are vital for career growth. Attending the right conferences also affords busy HR professionals an opportunity to accumulate educational credits to maintain their certifications. From learning to network to sharing what life is like on the “front lines,” being around other HR professionals is invaluable. This week, Elissa O’Brien, Vice President

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Meghan M. Biro

Meghan M. Biro

How To Make Work Matter

Hiring Success Beyond The Gut Check

#WorkTrends Preview: Building Strengths-Based Organizations

Unleash Your Employees’ Super Powers

The #1 Reason People Leave a Job Might Surprise You

How Leaders Hire Top Tech Talent

Happy Employees = Hefty Profits

Telecommuting Is The Future of Work

#WorkTrends Recap: Spouses Working Together

6 Reasons To Start Live Video Streaming Your Brand

Leadership Is About Emotion

5 Tips For A Winning Candidate Experience

Top 5 Reasons HR Is On The Move

#WorkTrends Preview: Spouses Working Together

Five Ways to Attack the Pay Inequity Issue Head-On

Leadership Is Catching A Mobile Recruiting Wave

5 Ways To Use Mobile To Recruit Top Talent

5 Fresh Trends To Fuse Fun And Work

Five Ways Leaders Bridge the Generational Divide

#WorkTrends Recap: #SHRM16 Preview: Professional Development & Relationship-Building

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Meghan M. Biro

Meghan M. Biro

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