Issue #1: The EBINC.com website has reported that there are new guidelines for drug testing in the workplace. EBI reports that the changes are:

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recently announced that the agency has accepted the recommendations of the Drug Testing Advisory Board (DTAB) to revise the DHHS Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs in the following two areas: 

1. Expand the drug testing panel to include additional Schedule II prescription medications (e.g. hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxycodone, and oxymorphone)  prescription painkiller opioid drugs, and;
2. Include oral fluid as an alternative specimen for Federal Drug Free Workplace Programs (DFWP) testing. 

This is certainly great news to help support workplace drug testing programs as it provides more tools for employers to detect drugs of abuse. The Department of Transportation (DOT) will now be tasked with making a rulemaking change to finalize this rollout.  Understand that there will be continued deliberation, debate and also comment before these changes are put into place.  It could take several months before this ...

Recognize This! -  The corporate culture appropriate for your organization is unique to you.

I write regularly about company culture, the importance of getting your culture right for your organization, and how strategic recognition is a powerful method for achieving that culture. But let’s be clear on two critical points:

1)   Your culture is unique to your organziation.

Zappos has a terrific, powerful culture. So does Southwest Airlines as well as many other companies. But that doesn’t mean that Zappos’ approach will work for you. A member of my team did a Zappos culture tour and enjoyed it immensely. We won’t be adopting a Zappos culture at Globoforce, however. We did learn several lessons and had many of our own beliefs firmly reinforced in that tour, though. And that’s the value of evaluating other strong cultures. Learn what you can; apply what makes sense. But you must create your own culture that works for your own organization.

2)  Culture is not a ping-pong table in the break room or pizzas every Friday.

A powerful article in Fast Company made this point:

“Culture, like brand, is misunderstood and often discounted as a touchy-feely component of business that ...

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of my start in consulting.  I’ve been reminiscing lately about when I started.  I remember getting one of two reactions when I first told people I was becoming a consultant:

First was the “look” that silently said “oh, you mean you’re going to consult until a great job comes along”. For those people, I found it took about a year for them to realize that consulting was my profession.  Not a part-time hobby.

The other was “oh, it must be great to never work for a company again.”

My answer for the second one was (and still is)…never say never.  I’ve always said if someone offers my dream job, I just might take it.  Now, that hasn’t happened and it’s not the point.  It’s keeping our minds open to new  ideas and opportunities.

For example, I know several people looking for new jobs right now who have a long list of demands – no relocation, no excess travel, no staying late, no working on holidays, no cuts in pay or benefits…and the list goes on.  When I listen to them, it reminds me that some of the best professional experiences I’ve ever had came as a result of me not saying I’d “never” do something.

Same thing with social media.  I’ve ...

“Brain science’s transformation of management isn’t just about another new technique or model. It’s about shifting our paradigm to incorporate the hard data of science and fundamentally changing the way we think about business.”

                                  Charles S. Jacobs, Management Rewired

Neuroscience will revolutionize the way we do business. It will do that because it will eventually transform the way we view the way human beings function.  

In Part 1, we explored some of the fundamental principles that underlay contemporary management practices. It is safe to say that while issues like motivation, learning and “performance” are all topics that dominant management theory, they are not well understood within the context of human psychology.  

The dominant left-brain functioning which underpins management concepts keeps us stuck in old practices based on ideas of fragmented human experience.

The good but challenging news from the neuroscience front asserts that fragmentation isn’t really possible without a significant cost to well-being. Unless we view the person as a whole system we’re missing the amazing dynamism of human functioning and the ...

Recognize This! – You have many options instead of forced ranking for effective performance management.

Yesterday, I shared my opinion on forced ranking as a performance management tool (it should die) along with a true story of the real damage force ranking does when applied.

Today, I’m pointing you to the wisdom of some of my favorite bloggers on forced ranking in particular and performance management more generally. In no particular order (all are brilliant):

From John Hollon on TLNT: “Forced Ranking: Good Management, or Just a Flawed and Arbitrary System?”

As John says: “it’s an arbitrary, formula-heavy performance system that’s obsessed with cutting people down instead of helping to build them up.” Be sure to read his full list of reasons why forced ranking systems should be kicked to the kerb.

From Frank Roche and the KnowHR blog: “10 Questions About Your Performance Reviews”

As you work your way through yet another annual performance review process, perhaps these 10 questions from Frank Roche can help you evaluate just how successful your process truly is.

From Bob Sutton on his Work Matters blog: “Do You Have a GOOD and SIMPLE Performance Evaluation Form?”

Bob ...

Marilyn, my beloved wife of more than 50 years, died on December 29 of complications associated with Alzheimer’s. It was a fortunate death, though not, in the usual sense, a good death. She had lost 95% or more of her mental capacities, and had no obvious sense of who I was or of what was happening to her.

She was a wonderful woman, the love of my life, and I miss her dearly. When the kids and grandchildren came in from the Coasts to see her in Memory Care, she always had a big smile on her face. I don’t know whether she recognized them, but I prefer to believe that her wiring was so strong that she knew, unconsciously, who they were. Even in the last stages of her Alzheimer’s-destroyed-life, what a smile broke out on her face every time I walked into her apartment. We have a family photo of her reading to her three-year-old grandson in her lap, a paradigm of who she was and the simple happiness we enjoyed. I have always found a deep sense of satisfaction in the love we were able to give and receive, an experience depicted by that picture from a dozen years ago.

Initially, I decided not to write this very personal blog, but I decided otherwise because of its ...