manager advice Tag

As soon as the calendar flips to November, some might believe all bets are off when it comes to productivity. There are parties to think about, travel to book, dinners to cook, presents to make, and correspondences to keep up. Who has the time to do all that and work!?As a manager, it can be difficult to keep people focused on the tasks at hand. The end of the year is busy in an office, too, as year-end reports need to be completed, last-minute deals brokered, and contracts completed and signed before the clock strikes midnight on December 31. You understand your employees trying to balance their home and work lives and get that things are hectic all around, but there are still deadlines to meet. How do you make sure everything gets done? 

We, humans, are imperfect creatures -- sad but true. Normally our quirks and preferences don’t make all that much difference in the world. Still, when reviewing resumes and hiring candidates, our unconscious biases can lead to an unfair and maybe even discriminatory set of practices. Biases toward people who have things in common with us can be eliminated or at least held in check just by taking a few simple steps to ensure the pool of candidates is deep and wide. 

This year’s challenges have certainly made some aspects of doing business more complicated than normal. Instead of being able to bring people in for interviews, everything is done remotely. Keeping up with customers is now a matter of video chats and phone calls instead of meetings and conversations over coffee or meals.

Working remotely has some opportunities as well: No longer are your applicants limited to a specific geographic area. If working from home is part of your current model and your future expectations, it’s time to embrace some tactics for finding and hiring excellent talent quickly.