human resources

Are You Believing in Your Own Vast Potential?

December 6, 2011

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.
- Martin Luther King Jr
I was going on as usual the other day about my belief in the vast potential of human beings.  And [...]

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Post Featured in National Association of Women Executives (NAFE) Newsletter

August 17, 2011
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“Do you simply manage the people who work for you – or do you truly lead?
Mary Schaefer is a speaker, coach, trainer and consultant. Her company, Artemis Path, strives to create breakthroughs in manager-employee communications to produce functional, positive work cultures.”
See “5 Tips to be a Leader to Your Employees” and the Aug. 15 NAFE [...]

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Happy 2010! Made Top 10 Listened-to Podcast List at “The Proactive Employer”

December 27, 2010
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Thanks to Stephanie Thomas for the generous mention in her special installment of The Proactive Employer podcast featuring clips from the 2010′s 10 most-listened-to shows.   I’m featured in a clip from the installment on investigating workplace complaints.

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Part 3: Relate More Humanly at Work – the Role of Leaders and HR

November 10, 2010
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If  I could create an HR function from scratch…
[Adapted from original post, July 14, 2010]

My first thought would be to clarify what purpose the organization wants HR to serve. Fair or not, organization members have expectations that if HR is in your title, you are expected to do your work in a Human way. [...]

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Tomato? Tomahto? What Do We Call Those People Who Work Here?

October 2, 2010
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Words matter.  I saw a video about preventing sexual harassment once about a woman who was starting a new job. She was talking with a female coworker about how the men on the crew called them “girls.” The coworker responded with, “It’s only a word…” The snarky part of me wanted the [...]

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Managers: Is it Worth it to Deal With the “Petty Drama”?

August 6, 2010
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Hello Friends and Colleagues. I know I haven’t written in a while.
The good news is that I have had a busy and productive summer coaching new managers on their exciting new role and training managers to develop the skills to effectively coach their employees. I also took time for some much-needed R&R in [...]

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When is it Too Late to Engage Unhappy Employees?

May 28, 2010
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A crisis in employee engagement has been building for a long time, with employees increasingly being treated as interchangeable objects. As the economy recovers, the American workforce is going to go into active revolt.
Some of the best people will be energized to pursue situations where they will be treated as an intelligent Human being with [...]

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Managers: What Do You Know Now That You Wish You Knew Then?

March 15, 2010
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“As a manager/leader of people, what do know now, that you wish you knew when you started?”
I recently posted this question in a number of groups on LinkedIn to get a discussion going on management development.  I’m getting lots of great answers, like this one from Steve Ibanez of NY (used with his [...]

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Hear the Clip! Do You Think There are Some Employees You Just Can’t Motivate?

January 24, 2010
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…Don’t Make This Common Manager Mistake
As a former HR Manager, and long-time coach, I’ve found 5 common mistakes I see managers of people make over and over that create a rut of overwhelm, confusion, and frustration.  These mistakes practically guarantee you’ll keep struggling against yourself and your employees. By avoiding these mistakes you’ll allow yourself [...]

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Employee Engagement – For the Win!

September 10, 2009
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I find it interesting when I am asked to back up my claim that employee engagement actually supports productivity and profitability. There has been plenty of evidence available on this for at least 30 years, and darned it if Gallup didn’t produce some more recently. (Thank you Gallup!)  Their study parses apart the differences between [...]

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Relate More Humanly at Work: The Role of Leaders and HR

July 14, 2009
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[Re-released Dec. 19, 2009]
If you have seen my interview with Freedom Fighter, Joe Gerstandt, you know that Joe and I have agreed to exchange interview questions regularly. Here’s the latest.

Joe: What experiences in your HR career led you to focus on a “different way of relating” at work?
Mary: What I want to say first [...]

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Save Your Staff by Dealing with the Underperformer

June 30, 2009
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In the May 2009 HRMagazine article, “The Seduction of Potential,” Keith Rosen talks about talks about why we are seduced into thinking that if we just give the under-performer a little more time, they will realize their potential.
We think this even when we have little evidence of improvement.  Yes, they had great references, a great [...]

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