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Articles by Debra Corey
From cricket fields to coaching wisdom: Roland Butcher on what makes great leaders
What does it really take to break barriers, lead with integrity, and coach others to greatness? Just ask Roland Butcher – the first Black cricketer to play for England – whose story is packed with courage, resilience, and hard-earned wisdom. In his new book Breaking Barriers: Barbados to England … And Back, Roland shares his incredible journey from a small village in Barbados to the world stage of international cricket.
Leadership shadows: how HR can help leaders get it right - HR Magazine
I’d be surprised if your leaders didn’t know they influence their people, but have they ever thought about the shadow they cast as a leader? When I bring this up in workshops, I often get a puzzled look: 'My what? What do you mean by a shadow?' To help you start this conversation in your organisation, let’s explore what a leadership shadow is and how HR can help leaders become aware of theirs to ensure it’s one worth following. What is a leadership shadow?
Council Post: Just Give It To Me Straight: The Case For Radical Honesty
Debra Corey is Chief Pay it Forward Officer at Step it Up HR, helping companies develop great leaders and HR programs to drive engagement. "Just give it to me straight." That’s what my 91-year-old father said to the third doctor he had just seen. He had been dealing with a medical issue for some time, but no one had told him what it was or what he could do about it. When he finally got the answer, I asked, “That’s great, was it good news?” “No,” he replied. “But at least I know.
Council Post: 3 Unintentional Reasons Why Leaders Can Be Bad Bosses
Debra Corey is Chief Pay it Forward Officer at DebCo HR, helping companies develop great leaders and HR programs to drive engagement. You likely wouldn't be surprised if I told you that nearly 100% of professionals have had a bad boss at some point in their career. But what if I told you that, as a leader, you’ve probably been a bad boss? I wouldn't blame you for being shocked. The majority of us simply don’t know when we’re getting things wrong, so our poor leadership is unintentional.
Council Post: 3 Ways Bosses Better Communicate With Their Teams In The AI Era
Debra Corey is Chief Pay it Forward Officer at DebCo HR, helping companies develop great leaders and HR programs to drive engagement. We talk a lot about how AI is changing the role of our employees. Countless studies and articles project that jobs will change and that we’ll need to retrain, upskill and hire people to meet the demands of this new world of work. But what about your role as a boss? Have we considered and addressed how these changes will impact us?
Council Post: 3 Tips For Being A More Self-Aware Boss
Debra Corey is Chief Pay it Forward Officer at DebCo HR, helping companies develop great leaders and HR programs to drive engagement. We all want to be great bosses whose teams achieve their best and reach record successes. But too often, we find ourselves getting it wrong without even realizing it.
People-centric performance management is shaping the future of work
The days of rigid performance reviews solely focused on metrics are fading in the rearview mirror. A more holistic, people-centric approach recognizes that the heart of any organization is its people, and their performance is intrinsically tied to their engagement, satisfaction, and growth within the company. People-centric performance management goes beyond simply assessing outputs; it understands that when employees thrive, the business prospers.
UK Launches Pilot for Performance-Related Pay in Civil Service
The UK government has announced a new pilot program to trial performance-related pay for senior civil servants. Spearheaded by Cabinet Office minister John Glen, this initiative is aimed at increasing efficiency within the civil service by aligning pay more closely with individual performance and project milestones. This approach is intended to attract talent from the private sector and manage internal performance more effectively.
Doing Leadership Right: How To Avoid The Traps That Lead To Being A Bad Boss
This article was co-written with Ken Corey. One of the first questions we ask leaders in the workshops that we run is: "Are you perfect?" And except for the jokester standing in the back of the room, everyone shakes their heads and replies, "No." Here, we start to make the point that as humans (and as leaders), we don't always get it right, especially when it comes to being a boss.
Is a simple thank you too much to ask for?
Comment The rate of change in business today is accelerating, whether that’s technological change, customer demands, economic uncertainty – all are complex challenges. As a result, employees have to be more resourceful, hard-working and dedicated in order to keep up. But according to McKinsey, over half of our employees are not engaged. Productivity is stagnant, Quiet Quitting is rife and employees feel a sense of not being connected to anything.
How the superpowers of appreciation drive performance and wellbeing
If I told you that there was a tool that could turn your people into superheroes, would you be interested? How about if I added that it costs little to nothing to do? Have I piqued your interest? The tool is appreciation, something so simple and straightforward and yet so misunderstood and underutilized. In fact, according to a survey we conducted for our book (Bad Bosses Ruin Lives: The Building Blocks for Being a Great Boss), 81% of people have had a boss who shows them no appreciation.
Helping your bosses build their six-pack
For many athletes, six-pack abs are a coveted goal. They train and diet for it and put in the effort it takes to attain this badge of honour. But what you may not know is that a six-pack can do far more than just give you a fit appearance. A six-pack, a strong core, can improve performance, protect your body, and prevent injury. All critical so that an athlete can be resilient and perform at their best. These concepts of performance and protection are also important for bosses.
How bosses can motivate an unmotivated team
Tools#HR Read time: 03'49'' 12 February 2024 As a startup, you know the importance of people, with each and every one having an important and pivotal role to play in helping your business thrive, grow and stand out from your competitors. But what do you do when one (or more) of them aren’t motivated, when they’ve lost their mojo?
The three most common types of bad bosses in the workplace
By Debra Corey and Ken Corey, below When we think of bad bosses we conjure up images of cartoon characters with steam coming out of their ears or in movies screaming at their poor, defenceless employees. And while these stereotypical bad bosses do exist, the reality is that many other types and traits exist in the real workplace, far beyond the caricature we see in cartoons or Hollywood.
Rewards & Benefits Archives
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See it, say it, appreciate it! The mantra for employee recognition
In my last blog for HRD Connect, I wrote about how to transform managers into champions of employee recognition by helping them understand why it’s important, sharing seven superpowers and five impacts that appreciation can have. But like anything, this can only happen when HR leaders ‘do it right’. To help our busy managers understand how to do this, I’ve come up with a simple and easy-to-remember employee recognition mantra and call to action: See it. Say it.
Overcoming resistance: Transforming managers into champions of employee recognition
No matter how great HR is at designing and delivering recognition programmes, they will never work without the support and ownership of your managers. For although your programme is your “secret sauce,” your managers are the ones using it (or not using it) to deliver that great “taste.” But what do you do when your managers don’t believe and buy into the concept of recognition?
The secret to capturing commonly missed recognition moments
One of the biggest reasons that employee recognition programmes are failing is that important recognition moments are being missed. Great things are happening all around us that deserve to be recognised, but we’re missing them because we don’t understand that they should be recognised, and we’re not looking in the right places. Why recognition moments are important Employees who aren’t being recognised don’t feel appreciated. 65% of employees said they haven’t been recognised in the last year.
Debra Corey: Change needn’t be challenging – how to ride the workplace rollercoaster - HRD
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4 Fun Ways To Showcase Your Personality Through Employee Recognition
We all have our own unique and special personality, something that shows others the ways we think, act, and behave. Likewise, when it comes to your company, the same is absolutely true. Each company has its own unique and special personality or, as more commonly described, its own company culture. And in this competitive and challenging workplace, your personality and culture is exactly what you need to be showcasing to your existing and potential employees.
4 Fun Ways To Showcase Your Personality Through Employee Recognition
We all have our own unique and special personality, something that shows others the ways we think, act, and behave. Likewise, when it comes to your company, the same is absolutely true. Each company has its own unique and special personality or, as more commonly described, its own company culture. And in this competitive and challenging workplace, your personality and culture is exactly what you need to be showcasing to your existing and potential employees.
Creating meaningful recognition to drive connections and loyalty
Over the years, companies have come to understand the importance and power of employee recognition – to our people and to our companies. Let’s start with a piece of data from a study that asked employees what matters most to them, and what is the most important thing your manager or company currently does that would cause you to produce great work.
4 Fun Ways To Showcase Your Personality Through Employee Recognition
We all have our own unique and special personality, something that shows others the ways we think, act, and behave. Likewise, when it comes to your company, the same is absolutely true. Each company has its own unique and special personality or, as more commonly described, its own company culture. And in this competitive and challenging workplace, your personality and culture is exactly what you need to be showcasing to your existing and potential employees.
How CSR and employee benefits are a match made in heaven
My very first job out of university was as a benefits assistant, so let’s just say that I’ve been involved with employee benefits for a ‘few’ years. And over these years, I’ve seen major changes in how organisations develop their benefits strategies and select their benefit programmes. Breaking it down To explain this evolution, let me share with you how I break it out into three unique phases.
5 ways to eliminate your appreciation gap
Over the years, employee recognition has moved from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘have to have,’ with 87 percent of organisations now having some form of recognition programme. This is because they’ve seen or heard of its power. Studies show the positive impact appreciation can have on revenue (two times higher with recognition), employee engagement (14 percent higher with recognition) and employee burnout (43 percent lower with recognition). Employees want to be recognised for their efforts.
Connecting the dots: Five tips for sustainable hybrid working success
Throughout the pandemic we’ve had no choice but to address what I call the ‘dots’ of hybrid working, meaning the individual challenges and/or obstacles that we’ve had to face. From figuring out how to get our people set up to work from home, to figuring out how to bring them safely back to the workplace, we’ve had lots of dots, moving and changing over and over again.
Three Steps To Discover Your Company Values
by Debra Corey, author of “Bringing Your Values Out To Play“ As a startup you need each and every one of your employees working and moving in the same direction, working together to strengthen and grow your business. But if your employees don’t have a map, something to guide them in their actions and behaviors, how will they (and your business) get there?
4 ways to leverage flexibility as a tool for success
As a competitive gymnast, flexibility was a cornerstone and a key element of my training and success. It’s what helped me perform the more difficult moves in order to achieve the highest scores, and it’s what protected and prevented my body from injury. In the workplace, the same is absolutely true. With flexibility being key to how organisations deal with challenges and disruptions, it’s crucial to also implement protectors from the ‘injuries’ the world may throw your way.
Three tips for developing behaviours that drive your company values
Let me ask you a question - if someone handed you a tool, would you automatically know how to use it? If you’re like me, the answer is most definitely, no – just ask my husband, who makes fun of me using every tool we have in the garden shed for the wrong purposes and in the wrong way! The same is true with company values, our ‘tools’ for driving our company’s purpose and mission.
Four ways to support working parents with home schooling
With the latest lockdown rules, many parents must feel like it’s Groundhog Day, as they’re right back to where they were almost a year ago balancing the challenges of work and home schooling their children. Recognising the strain this is putting on their employees, many companies are taking steps to support working parents by allowing more flexible work schedules and providing additional time off.
How are organisations virtually celebrating the festive season during Covid-19?
I’m sure you’ve all heard the term ‘party pooper’ – that person who throws gloom over social enjoyment, or ‘killjoy’ – a person who deliberately spoils the enjoyment of others. Well not to point fingers, but the award for 2020 party pooper and killjoy goes to Covid-19! Start by asking yourself the question ‘what am I really trying to do’?
Five tips for motivating employees and celebrating the festive season in 2020
As an HR leader, finding the perfect way to wrap up the end of the year has always been a challenge. How do you figure out what’s right for an increasingly diverse workforce, in a more cost-conscious environment? Especially at the end of such an extremely challenging year, it’s important to picture what reaction you want to receive from your employees. That being said, compared to this year, the challenges of prior years were a ‘walk in the park’ as the expression goes.
Banishing the Monsters We Create with Our Rewards and Recognition Programs
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How to Reset Your Employee Engagement Strategy in a Post-Covid-19 World
By Debra Corey on 17 Aug 2020 in PROMOTED CONTENT, Coronavirus, Latest News, Employee engagement As we all stand at yet another critical crossroad, we’re once again being asked to determine where to go next, how to get past the next set of hurdles, and how to find ways to continue to engage our workforce. Debra Corey introduces her new e-book in association with Reward Gateway.
Crisis management: seven tips for communicating through challenging times
I remember my first tornado, sitting alone in a closet in my apartment in Florida feeling scared, alone and disconnected. All I wanted was a connection, something or someone to tell me what was going on, that I was not alone, and that everything was going to be OK. The good news is that the tornado never came.
Getting value out of your company values
It wasn’t until around 20 years ago that most companies began to state their values and deploy them as strategic HR and business tools. Debra Corey examines why, while the vast majority of businesses now do this, few have values that truly act as strategic tools. According to a 2016 study by Gallup, only 27% of employees believe in their company values and only 23% knowingly use them in their jobs. This means that most companies are failing to use their values to help them succeed.
Three Ways To Use Recognition To Turn Your Employees Into Superheroes
We all love superheroes, right? And why not? They possess supernatural or superhuman powers and, even more importantly, can use these powers to fight evil and protect us from supervillains. But that’s just in the movies. Certainly we don’t face supervillains in the workplace? Wrong. Here are three supervillains I’ve come up against who may sound familiar to you as well: 1.
Multi-Generational Technology in the Workplace
6 min read Hi there, my name is Debra, and, I’d like to make a confession. I not only love technology but I can’t live without it. I have another confession: I’m also definitely not a millennial. Why am I saying this, making this confession? Too often I hear people say that technology is only for millennials, that only they want and need it. Well they’re wrong, although different generations may use technology differently, we still all use and depend on it as part of our daily lives. Don’t believe me?
The Drive-Through Approach To Employee Communications (And Four Ways To Adopt It)
Let me tell you a secret: I love drive-through restaurants. And why not? They fit my lifestyle of running to meetings, rushing between appointments and playing taxi to my children. And I’m not alone — drive-through restaurants have become an integral part of our culture, letting us quickly and easily get food to fit our busy and (dare I say) at times, lazy, lives. No longer do we have to leave our car, as we can get our food on demand in a way that works for us. So why am I telling you this?
How to Create an Employee Rewards Calendar
5 min read We all use calendars, right? We use them to plan for our business meetings, our social events outside of work, for activities big and small that we want to prepare for or not miss. Then why don’t we do the same with our reward activities? Why don’t we create an employee reward calendar to help us design and deliver all of our important reward activities?
Employee Recognition During Holidays
4 min read I can’t count the number of times throughout my HR career that I’ve been asked to basically fill in for Santa Claus. This means coming up with the perfect gift to give to our employees, ones that will make them feel appreciated, valued and in the holiday spirit. Cookies, branded mugs, you name it — but what does it really do?
Five Reasons Companies Hold Back On Employee Recognition
When speaking at a conference recently on the topic of employee recognition, I decided to start out by asking a question to gauge the audience’s current state of play. The question was simple: “How many of you are doing something at your company, either formally or informally, to recognize your employees, showing them you appreciate and value them?” To my surprise, and quite frankly, my disappointment, very few people raised their hands.
Playbook for Becoming a Rebel
By Debra Corey, Reward Gateway Print Share Order a Reprint I’m Debra and I’m a rebel. Have I always been one? I’d like to say yes, but what I’ve found when researching and co-writing a book on employee engagement is that, although I’ve taken some rebellious actions in my 20-plus years as a rewards professional, I still have a long way to go to be a true rebel. And, I’m not alone.
Do Dress Codes Prescribe The Success Of Your Company?
As I stared into my closet trying to decide what to wear to work, all of the comments people make about work attire appeared like cartoon bubbles over my head. Do I listen to the person who says to dress for success? Do I listen to the person who says to dress to impress? Do I listen to the person who says to dress to progress? Or do I just dress to express? Let me take a step back and start from the beginning.
It's Time To Stop Closing The Door On Pay Transparency
Let me introduce you to Chloe, my teenage daughter. She’s a "normal" teenager, which means that everything and every moment "needs" to be captured in a photo to be shared with her "friends" across her multitude of social media channels. While driving to her first day of work, we had the following conversation. Me: Chloe, I made a joke about you yesterday when I was being interviewed on a podcast. Chloe: That’s sweet. What did you say?
Company Values And DNA: The Differences That Make Us Special
As humans, our DNA is what makes each of us, us, and different from each other. It’s what makes you, you. Differences in DNA are the reason one person has blue eyes and another brown, and why some people are tall and others short. It’s the master plan for life on earth and the source of the wonderful variety we see around us, and the instructions passed from parent to child as to how they’ll develop and function. So why am I giving you a science lesson on DNA?
Speakers
James was appointed as Executive Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development (HR & OD) in October 2016 and in November 2017, James was appointed to the post of Deputy Chief Executive retaining executive oversight of the HR, OD and improvement agenda. James returned to Medway having started his career there as an apprentice in 1996; He joined the Trust from Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children where he held the position of Deputy Director of HR & OD.
Three Ways To Become A Rebel And Lead Without Fear
If you’d asked me three years ago if I was a rebel, I would have said, "No way." I was working in HR and had been for over 20 years. I had been brought up, as they say, coloring inside the lines. Yes, I’d learned to "add color," as a former boss had described it to me, but ultimately I was still more of a rule-follower than a rule-breaker.
Three Things CEOs Must Deliver for Employee Engagement to Work
A CEO’s job is ultimately to deliver business results—to deliver the mission. The key way to do that is to create an environment where employees are able do their jobs well and a culture where they want to do their jobs well. A company’s employees invent, market, sell, build, deliver, and support the products that customers buy. When customers buy those products, a company and its shareholders make money.
YouEarnedIt Expands Platform with Awards and Nominations
YouEarnedIt, the SaaS-focused HR solutions firm for bottom-line performance metrics enhancement, has unveiled its new Awards & Nominations, a feature suite geared to help companies conduct awards ceremonies in reduced timelines with greater impact.
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