Maria C Forbes

Call Me When… You need to assist owners and key decision makers in defining roles and engaging talent as part of business growth and transition planning. Convert people strengths into business performance.

We have all heard the idioms, “Taking responsibility is an essential element of strong leadership”, “The buck stops here”, and “Leadership is taking responsibility while others are making excuses.”  Creating your work ethic as a leader around these phrases may have unconsciously made you over-responsible. Over-responsibility can be a hard habit to break. Do you…

A Small Business Onboarding Process A recent HBR article stated that poor onboarding can leave your employees with lower confidence in their new roles, worsened levels of engagement, and an increased risk of jumping ship when they see a new, more exciting position elsewhere. On the other hand, companies that implement a formal onboarding program…

Employees have adopted a consumer mindset about who they work for, and the value a company provides to their personal and professional life.  They are focused holistically on the ability to share in cultural matters as part of a broad community effort. Small business leaders must adapt to employee mindfulness about their career experience. With…

When a valuable employee tells you that they’ve received a job offer from another company, making a counteroffer may seem like a no-brainer.  But before you do, consider these potential downsides. If you are throwing money at jobs, think twice. Owners that have not paid attention to employee compensation on an annual basis will now…

What is a Unique Contributor?  Employers that are committed to engaging the reliable strengths of their teams cultivate what we call a Unique Contributor business model. These employers have a direct line of sight to their best competitive advantage, their secret weapon to ongoing growth, their talent base. What about you? Knowledge of your true…

One of today’s biggest business challenges is based around talent. Leaders are attempting to overcome employee turnover and a finicky talent pool. The hiring process can be tedious and owners have a tendency to short-cut the effort by talking with colleagues and networking to get a great referral. This is not a good option for…

How a successful women-owned company gets its teams into positive gear every day. On multiple occasions, I have experienced something noteworthy, something different and real, a true and authentic sense of purpose about this owner and her partner. Their method of forming relationships has created business strength that withstands economic, social, and business shifts with amazing…

Get your people to stay, a growth strategy. According to a recent report by McKinsey, employers are misunderstanding the reason for the Great Resignation. While we learn much from big company trends, small businesses are similarly affected by the same patterns, especially relative to people. McKinsey reports that “over 25 million people quit their jobs in…

When formulating incentive plans for your teams, it’s important to look beyond the numbers. Are the job responsibilities and expectations clear and defined? Are your employees being analyzed as unique contributors or simply lumped in with company growth targets? Incentive plans need to be individually aligned with your team members’ overall engagement and goals. Read…

Giving negative feedback is never easy and is even more challenging in a virtual work world. It’s always best to have difficult conversations in person; however, if that’s not an option, treat your team member with compassion and make sure you end the discussion with clear direction and expectations. Find out FirePower Teams‘ other recommendations…

When trying to identify the right people for your organization, you may need to go back to the basics. Are you simply writing a job description with responsibilities and minimum qualifications OR are you writing a role description that showcases a candidate’s innate abilities to succeed? There IS a difference, and it can mean finding…

Last week I started discussing the value of self-directed teams and their role in your business success. You may believe that you don’t have the right employees to develop self-directed teams, but you need to re-evaluate your thinking. Are you truly taking advantage of the talent you have and engaging them appropriately? It’s important to…

I have served as a mentor for young professionals for several years. And while their experiences are varied, one common theme remains – when we have not aligned our purpose and strengths, we will wrestle with achieving our goals both personally and professionally. Discover more about their stories and lessons learned in this latest FIREPOWER…