Talent Management

Gallup research shows that only about three in ten employees believe their opinions count at work, signaling open-door promises aren’t creating the space intended. Open-door policies came from the right place. They were designed to signal care, openness, and trust. But intent without structure no longer works.

Small- and medium-sized businesses need to evolve their talent strategies to reflect a changing labor market. That shift starts with thinking not just about how we attract people but about how we help them advance. Investing in people and encouraging them to take advantage of development opportunities and career advancement paths will help them find purpose in their lives and prepare them — and our enterprises — for the changes the future will bring.

Annual reviews feel outdated because they are. They delay feedback instead of driving it and feel more like paperwork than performance management. Performance management should not be a formality scheduled once a year and ignored the rest of the time. In modern organizations, it must be agile, responsive, and aligned with how teams actually work.

Culture isn’t created by lofty HR initiatives — it’s created by a strong, stable infrastructure. If infrastructure is weak (or essentially non-existent), culture will always crack under the weight of the vision. You can’t build culture without solid ground.

For most organizations, onboarding is a missed opportunity. We treat it like a frantic sprint through compliance paperwork and IT setups, leaving our newest team members feeling more processed than welcomed. When we treat onboarding as a checklist, we are not just creating a forgettable experience; we are actively contributing to early turnover.

Unsurprisingly, PIPs are often perceived by employees as a prelude to their inevitable dismissal. Navigating these situations is tough, as PIPs put HR professionals in the position of playing the dual roles of disciplinarian and coach. It is up to HR to frame performance discussions with employees as giving them a “second chance” to avoid dismissal by achieving a set of specific goals.

Mentoring is more than a nice-to-have. With 58% of employees ready to walk without growth opportunities and only 14% of HR leaders satisfied with their current programs, mentoring isn’t just about development—it’s about retention, engagement, and culture.

Understanding what excites or frustrates an employee early on is critical. It helps you build the right team chemistry before someone even steps into a role. Finding the right chemistry means matching the most compatible person to the job you’re hiring them to do.

While HR often points to leaders as the sole driver of employee performance, they actually have the power to initiate organizational changes that can have a direct impact on performance. Well-being, driven by purpose, is one of those initiatives.