HR Problem Solver – Details, episodes & analysis

We hear a lot about leadership today, but what does it actually take to be a leader?  Leaders are not necessarily born with the needed characteristics to lead, they can be intentionally cultivated.  Let’s take a closer look and break it down to the most basic concepts.  

Today my guest is J. Lee Whittington, Ph.D., Dean & Professor of Management at the Gupta College of Business at University of Dallas. He focuses his teaching, research, and consulting in the areas of Leadership, Organizational Behavior and Spiritual Leadership. 

His research has been published in The Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Managerial Issues, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business Strategy, and the Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management. 

His book, Biblical Perspectives on Leadership and Organizations was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in August 2015. He is also a co-author with Tim Galpin and Greg Bell of the book, Leading the Sustainable Organization. His newest book, Enhancing Employee Engagement: An Evidence-Based Approach was co-authored with DBA students Simone Meskelis and Enoch Asare, Gupta professor Sri Beldona.

Prior to joining the University of Dallas, he served on the faculty at Texas Wesleyan University and The University of Texas at Arlington. He has received multiple awards for his excellence in teaching and research. While at UTA he was twice recognized as the Outstanding Undergraduate Professor and nominated for The Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. At Wesleyan, J. Lee was named the MBA Professor of the Year, received the Heads Above the Crowd award, and named a Guardian of the Golden Shears. 

J. Lee’s industry experience includes over twenty years in manufacturing and distribution. He has held executive positions in marketing, logistics, and general management. His consulting experience includes executive coaching and leadership development engagements with Life Church, Nokia, FedEx-Kinko’s, RadioShack, Siemens, Penson Financial Services, Vendor Resource Management, Reynolds Metals, Ball Container, Camp Fire Boys and Girls, Valor Telecom, City of Arlington, City of Southlake, and the US Army Corps of Engineers. 

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.

During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst, www.hrcatalystconsulting.com

Employee development may be more important than ever in today’s changing job market. Employee development is mutually beneficial for both employees and businesses as employees improve existing competencies and develop new skills while supporting the goals of business and filling skill gaps.  

We are talking with our guest Christina Rossini about some of the employee development initiatives happening at her company.  Christina graduated from University of Oklahoma before returning home to Dallas for a B2B sales career in the telecom industry.  After ten years of serving small and mid-sized companies’ IT departments, she left the corporate world and spent the next five years running two start-ups: first, importing and distributing specialty Mexican coffee, and later re-launching her family’s electrical contracting business, R Squared Electric.  In 2023, she joined commercial interior design firm Go Studio as its inaugural Chief of Staff, supporting business operations and company strategy.  Christina is former chair of Conscious Capitalism Dallas, a member of Vistage, and serves on the advisory council for St. Cecilia Catholic School in Dallas.  Christina lives in Oak Cliff with her husband Mark and two blue heelers.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.

During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

In this episode,  we are talking about how to build a great company culture.  You may have heard the saying "Culture is King."  Having a great culture gives your company a solid foundation for success in all other areas.  

Today, HR Problem Solver's guest is Trey Thompson, President of Star Industries who has long valued maintaining a strong company culture and believes it is critical to business success.  Trey has grown businesses through year over year sales growth, completing successful acquisitions, designing innovative marketing initiatives, and creating scalable processes that manage capex and human capital. As president of a highly successful company, Trey has led teams that increased sales over 35 percent in 12 months while designing and implementing operating and manufacturing processes that dramatically increased net income while improving customer loyalty.  He has created and led a start-up company, orchestrating the design and release of eight product lines, while building a successful sales organization that achieved $8 million in sales in three years. Trey believes in developing strong relationships and team synergies that promote a high level of performance and productivity.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Talent management when done well leads to a high performing workforce by attracting, selecting, developing, promoting and retaining the right employees to lead your company to success.  This processes continues throughout the employee life cycle.  Get some great tips here on building your talent management strategy as we talk with Talent Management expert, Julie Chance.

Today, HR Problem Solvers’ guest is Julie Chance, founder of Action Strategies By Design.  Her extensive background includes nearly two decades spent in leadership positions combined with an acute understanding of human behavior, uniquely positions Julie to support leaders in building high-performing teams and creating workplace cultures where individual contributors, leaders and the organization itself thrives. Julie is a certified Executive and Business Coach and a Neuro-Linguistic Programing Master Practitioner. She is also an accredited facilitator for the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ and a certified Everything DiSC® Workplace facilitator. 

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused. Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages. Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions. During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco. Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas. He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management. In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success. You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Have you been thinking you need to polish up your performance management process or maybe you need to implement one for the first time?  Either way you are going to be equipped with great information and pointers on what it takes to have an effective performance managment process at your company as we talk with performance managment expert Kay Nadel.

Today, HR Problem Solvers’ guest is Kay Nadel who has 15+ years experience in designing and facilitating leadership training and has had the pleasure of starting human resources and talent development divisions within several companies. Kay has a passion for coaching new managers and leaders to grow themselves and their teams as well as anyone that wants to explore their strengths and navigate the transitions in their careers.  As a certified Gallup Strengths Coach, she believes if we look at our strengths and what we naturally have within us, we can solve any problem that stands in the way of meeting our goals.

 Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

We are talking with employee engagement expert, Tom Horne today and taking an in depth look at all things employee engagement.  What it is, what it is not, how to get it, how it changes, how to get a good read on it at your company and more.

Today’s podcast guest is Tom Horne - An HR leader with People Element who is passionate about driving retention, culture, employee engagement, and improving the workplace for employees. With 20 years of people leadership and management, Tom is all in on helping move the employee experience forward. Tom believes HR is not an administrative function, it is a key driver of a company's success and should be empowered, trained and utilized to its full potential.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Today, we take an indepth look at Leadership Develepment and the importance of strong leaders building strong teams to carry your business forward.  Good leadership makes a huge difference in the workplace as it improves morale, increase employee retention and employee engagement and raises productivity.  Everyone can learn how to lead more effectively and impact those around them and those they are responsible for leading.  Some may be natural-born leaders, but most people need training and development to hone these skills and there is always room for growth.

My guest in this episode is Amanda Connelly, VP, Talent Development for Career Management Partners (CMP), Certified Executive Coach,  Certified Leadership Coach, and Certified Master Cognitive Behavioral Practitioner who offers a dynamic coaching approach coupled with assessment tools that promote authentic leadership in her clients. Amanda’s guidance has allowed her to inspire leaders through her broad expertise as a talent management industry leader.  She has partnered with executives and emerging leaders to drive operational effectiveness in the healthcare, hospitality, oil and gas, technology, non-profit and financial services industries.  She combines validated assessments and proven techniques to create personalized, performance driven coaching programs that result in increased enterprise leadership and acceleration of business goals.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Strategic Planning helps you look ahead and define where you want to be three to five  years in the future and then you can understand the steps that you need to take today in order to achieve your goals. So many businesses and business owners operate day-to-day without thinking about what the future holds.  Strategic planning is taking a step back from working in your business and clarifying where you want to go with your business.  Because once you have a clear direction then you can communicate that direction to your employees, then everybody can help row the boat in the same direction.  Strategic Planning is the basis of growing your business and defining your course going forward.  Figure out where you are going and then drive with intent to get there!

Today, I visit with Tom Bronson, Founder and CEO of Mastery Partners.  Tom knows what it takes to prepare a business for transition because he’s literally completed 100 transactions in his own businesses.  Now, he’s passionate about helping other business owners achieve the same success..  Mastery Partners developes exit strategies for its clients worldwide . Tom willingly shares his knowledge with everyone who will listen through his books, his podcast -Maximize Business Value podcast, his blogs and the free content on his website – MasteryPartners.com.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Today we discuss the basics of compensation that every business owner needs to know.  We are talking with David Garza, Sr. Principal at HR Catalyst on the key components to build a compensation strategy, why you need to make sure you are paying competitively against the external market, and finally how you integrate this into your overall HR strategy.

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com

Here we cover some of the basics of HR that can have a huge impact on the operation of your company and are many times overlooked when businesses are trying to keep up with the day to day business.   You will get a better understanding of how to cover your HR basics and set your company up for success. 

Your HR Problem Solver host is Mark Mitford, a strategic HR leader who is business and HR focused.  Mark is a management team advisor with 20+ years working as an HR executive in mid-size to Fortune 50 companies. He brings in depth, hands on experience successfully leading and advising company and business leaders through all life cycle stages.  Mark is viewed as a key advisor to C-Level Executives and has strengths in Improving Company Culture, Performance Management, Compensation Benchmarking, Employee Engagement, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Coaching, Succession Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions.
 
During his career, Mark has successfully held HR executive positions in companies such as PepsiCo, Ericsson, Nortel, Telmar, Texas Instruments and Safeco.  Mark has also worked for private equity backed organizations, S Corporations, and publicly traded firms and has lived and worked extensively overseas.  He has led several Enterprise wide transformations including Cultural Change and IT transformational change at Fortune 500 companies. He holds two Masters’ degrees, one in Organizational Psychology, and an MBA in Strategy and International Management.   

In 2013, Mark transitioned from a Corporate HR career to start his own HR Strategic consulting company, HR Catalyst Consulting with the goal of helping small to mid-market companies in growth or change and in need of Human Capital leadership to drive their continued growth and success.  You can reach us through our website – hrcatalystconsulting.com