What does it cost your organization to replace an employee? According to the Society for Human Resource Management, replacing an employee can cost 6 to 9 months of the employee's salary. The numbers can go up depending on the specific role.

For this reason, last year EnergyCAP, Inc. introduced a ten-step hiring process for open jobs. Since implementing the new process, we've seen zero percent turnover by employees. With this said, no hiring process is perfect. Even the best organizations...

According to the 2016 Global Coaching Study released by the International Coach Federation, there are over 53,000 coaching practitioners who earn income through professional coaching. In addition, there are about 11,000 managers or leaders who use coaching skills to benefit their organizations.

But what about the rest of us? Do you have to be a professional coach or organizational leader to use coaching skills? Of course not.

The coach approach has great value for every sphere of life, and in...

(January 15, 2016)

One finds difficulty putting words to an entire life. It’s like trying to describe the smell of the beach air at the Jersey Shore, where we learned to fish, or to capture the cabiney smell of Mountain Springs Lake, where we would catch turtles and race them, or to explain the tantalizing smell of Pat’s brownies and then the sight of brownie blocks crisply wrapped in tin foil—the assurance you were being given a very special gift for the road, and not just...

Some very exciting news.

Colette and I have a son. Asia and Rex have a brother. His name is Asher, he's three, and he's from the Philippines. Probably in June we'll go get him, when the process runs its course.

"Ten thousand thousand precious Gifts
My Daily Thanks employ,
Nor is the least a cheerful Heart,
That tastes those Gifts with Joy." (Joseph Addison, 1712)

You could say it's been a bit busy in our home. I was in Asia for two weeks, then a few days upon returning, flew to Las Vegas for a...

We’ve written previously about employee engagement within the workplace. This reader wonders if the same principles apply to congregations: “What you’ve written about engagement...does it also apply to church members? What does engagement look like in a church?” That’s an excellent question and as a leader in a new church, a question that personally interests me.

I like to turn to Gallup for engagement questions because they’ve researched and reported on...

In my experience of being an internal coach at a software company and having a private coaching practice, there are five main reasons people get coached. The details may be different, and the clients may explain their situations in different ways, but when boiled down to the essential, the reasons for getting coached can be counted on one hand.

Once you learn these five reasons, you can discern what clients are really looking for. And once you discern their real need, you can make clear the...

I was fortunate to be asked to write eulogies for two of my grandparents, and there are family members who have put their requests in for the same. I consider writing a eulogy to be a sacred honor, and although I cry my way through, I’m grateful for the opportunity.

To eulogize someone is to call attention to their essence and celebrate that rare light and warmth that makes them irreplaceable. This may sound strange, but I actually enjoy writing eulogies. I don’t enjoy that to...

It has been a long-held belief that the main reason people leave their jobs is because of their managers. But a report by IBM’s Smarter Workforce Institute, which looks at data from 22,000 employees, says otherwise.

In discussing the new study, Talent Management and HR asks, “So why has this concept of employees leaving managers become so wildly accepted and popular amongst HR leaders and pros? You won’t like this answer: We [HR leaders and pros] liked using this reason for...

This is a very special time of year for our family. Tomorrow we celebrate our son Asher’s eighth birthday. But that’s not why it’s so special. We adopted Asher from the Philippines when he was four—four years ago—which means on this birthday, Asher will have lived with us longer than he has lived with anyone else.

Asher was the second child we adopted. Rex, who’s ten, came from the Philippines a few years before. And before that, my wife Colette and I had...

(Aug 31, 2016)

Six months ago in a blog post, I signaled that a change was coming. I didn’t know how it would play out, but I sensed there was a journey to take. I wanted to understand more about my life mission, so I wrote:

Some people refer to it as your calling or holy discontent or life mission or the reason you were put here. I like what Frederick Buechner says: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

So...