Practical advice for mid-level HR professionals navigating real workplace challenges. Weekly interviews with experts who deliver solutions and insights you can actually use.
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HR has a a lot of processes. Together they make systems. Each program must connect directly back to core business goals and the business strategy. Former VP of HR Jim Utley explains why standalone performance reviews and disconnected processes create organizational friction instead of performance.
Learn how aligning performance management, job design, compensation, and regular coaching builds a cohesive people strategy that drives genuine employee engagement.
Key Takeaways:
Why annual performance reviews fail when disconnected from ongoing coaching and compensation decisions
How putting performance management at the center links business planning directly to workforce capacity.
Why managers must communicate the "why" behind daily tasks to give frontline roles purpose.
The reality of corporate culture and why HR rightly plays a supporting role.
00:00 Intro
00:42 Common Breakdowns in HR Programs
01:25 Why Annual Reviews Fail so Often
04:38 Balancing the Tension Between Development and Compensation
06:32 Fast-Paced Planning Versus Chaos
08:10 Systems Versus Isolated HR Processes
09:30 Performance Management at the Core
12:55 Drivers of Engagement: Autonomy and Achievement
14:05 HR Role in Corporate Culture
16:34 Identifying Disconnected HR Symptoms
20:38 Managing Layoffs Without Workplace Fear
22:34 Learn More
Find Jim
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-utley-b0608b15/
Book Titles or other link: People Working: Doing Things That Matter
Find Andrea (me)
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Organizational Conflict: You Don't Have to Terminate or Performance Manage
Tuesday, September 22, 2026 • Duration 23:31
Conflict resolution is the option most organizations skip when two
employees stop being able to work together. Chartered mediator Michelle Phaneuf explains how facilitated conversations resolve workplace conflict, what the process looks like from first call to solution, and why letting someone go often kicks the can down the road. If the problems stem from your systems you aren't fixing anything. Michelle is a partner at Workplace Fairness West in Calgary with more than 15 years in conflict management.
What you will get from this episode:
⚙️ Why conflict that looks like a clash between two people is often a systemic problem that will re-emerge again with new people.
💸 The cost comparison organizations rarely consider: restoration versus the cost of firing one of the people then recruiting, hiring and retraining a replacement
😶 The prep is the most important part as usual. You're not just going to go into a meeting cold.
💪 How to handle the power difference when the conflict is between a manager and an employee
‼ Why she uses the words 'workplace restoration'. 'Mediation' has a lot of mental baggage and more than is probably warranted.
Success will not two employees who are now best friends. But also, that is not unheard of.
00:00 Intro
00:58 When organizations decide restoration is worth it
02:08 The emotional energy employees have to spend
02:47 The cost of workplace restoration versus the cost of replacing someone
03:22 Psychological safety and organizational risk
03:54 Conflict never stays between two people
04:29 Why not just fire someone?
04:48 Systemic issues behind individual conflict
06:02 Walking through a facilitated conversation
07:21 Preparing each person
08:39 Confidentiality and differences in authority
09:17 Building understanding before finding solutions
10:21 How the in-person conversation starts
11:35 Why Michelle avoids the word mediation
12:06 What makes restoration successful
13:43 Power dynamics between manager and employee
15:16 Defining success
16:41 The continuum of working relationships
17:22 Red flags that restoration will fail
19:05 How long the process actually takes
21:35 Restoration with whole teams
22:06 Where to find Michelle
**Find Michelle**
Website: https://workplacefairnesswest.ca/michelle-phaneuf/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellephaneuf/
Firm website: https://workplacefairnesswest.ca/
**Find Andrea (me)**
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Contractor or Employee? Explaining the Difference
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • Duration 16:00
Independent contractors are easier than employees right? Flexibility, less risk. So many employers create that contract AND unknowingly create legal, financial, and tax liabilities for themselves. Employment lawyer Brady Farmer, partner with Mathew Dinsdale Clarke, explains so much about this and why written contracts do not shield companies from liability when the daily working relationship looks like standard employment. You will learn the specific tests courts use to evaluate control, tools, and financial risk, plus how HR can safely transition misclassified workers.
Key Takeaways:
- Courts assess the full context of the relationship rather than relying on your contract.
- When an someone is supervised, works fixed hours, uses company-supplied equipment and can't subcontract? Employee.
- Misclassified contractors can retroactively claim overtime, holiday pay, vacation pay, and common law severance.
You can fix the problem and Brady provides advice on how to go about in the video.
00:00 Intro
02:06 The key legal tests
06:17 The value of the contract
07:12 Why companies prefer contractors
09:16 The costs of getting it wrong
10:22 The potential tax liabilities
11:41 Fixing the problem
13:41 Liability limits and civil claims
15:08 More info
Find Brady
Website: https://matthewsdinsdale.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brady-farmer-077235108/
Firm Profile: https://matthewsdinsdale.com/bio/brady-farmer/
Find Andrea (me)
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Job Analysis for the AI Era
Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 26:22
Job analysis provides the foundational framework needed for many activities of HR. It also will help you understand work and adapt your workforce as artificial intelligence reshapes daily tasks and organizational roles. Dr. Edie Goldberg joins the conversation to explain the critical difference between quick job descriptions and structured task analysis, offering practical advice on legal
defensibility, future-oriented job design, and removing workplace toil.
Key Takeaways:
- The important difference between performing a detailed job analysis and drafting a basic job description.
- Why observation yields far richer data than simple interviews or surveys.
- How to weight task frequency against task criticality for proper role evaluations.
- The legal benefits of rigorous job analysis in hiring and development.
- How to use task analysis to identify where AI can eliminate operational toil.
- Strategies for conducting future-oriented job analysis on roles that do not exist yet.
00:00 Why job analysis is important
01:42 Job analysis versus job descriptions
03:39 Steps to conducting a job analysis
06:39 Balancing task frequency and importance
09:10 Legal value of job analysis
10:41 Why companies skip proper job analysis
12:41 Task analysis
14:34 Redesigning jobs to remove toil
17:32 Analyzing rapidly changing roles
19:08 Future oriented job analysis method
21:00 Where AI belongs in HR functions
22:38 Resources for learning job analysis
24:07 Transforming workflow for better outcomes
**Find Edie**
Website: https://www.elgoldberg.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edie-goldberg-phd/
Book Titles: Performance Enablement: A New Model for Driving Organizational Performance
**Find Andrea (me)**
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Communicate Well - Even When You Feel Like a Fraud
Tuesday, August 25, 2026 • Duration 32:57
Going into a presentation and feeling terrible? Watch this. You can do it AND do a good job.
Building workplace confidence and executive communication skills is essential for driving career growth and establishing credibility in
leadership. Dr. Andrea Wojnicki, an executive communication coach with a doctorate from Harvard Business School, shares actionable strategies to manage imposter syndrome, use body language, and project authority even when you're swimming in self doubt.
Key Takeaways:
- Imposter Syndrome is Growth: Experiencing imposter syndrome often signals that you are actively pushing your limits and taking
professional risks.
- Reframing your Anxiety: The body's physical response to anxiety and enthusiasm is nearly identical so reframe your nerves.
- Socially Distanced Self-Talk: Addressing yourself in the second person ("Andrea, you've got this") causes your brain to process the statement as trusted external advice.
- The Three-Point Body Scan: Checking posture, hand visibility, and
direct eye contact immediately projects executive presence in any
meeting room.
- Expansive Posture for Credibility: Confident professionals naturally take up physical space, signaling trustworthiness and capability to peers and senior leaders.
- Self-Concept Clarity: Focus on your specific, unique strengths rather than generic self-praise to build durable, authentic confidence over time. Self awareness pays off.
00:00 Intro
0:59 Defining imposter syndrome
02:23 The connection between credibility and confidence
06:11 The history of imposter syndrome
14:03 Reframe your anxiety
18:23 Use the second person
21:34 Do a body scan
27:11 Authenticity not required (exactly)
**Find Andrea Wojnicki**
Website: https://talkabouttalk.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreawojnicki/
**Find Andrea Adams (me)**
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
5 Plays for Psychological Safety
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 • Duration 29:53
There are specific and tangible ways to build psychological safety on teams and help your clients do it too.
Leadership consultants Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman share five practical plays from their psychological playbook series to help human resources professionals and business executives transform our team cultures. The tactics are easy to do although sometimes they require you to be your better self.
Key Takeaways
- Humility required: Asking "What am I missing?" invites ideas and
discussion.
- Listening: You've heard about the importance of listening - and it's
necessary for psychological safety too. We need to listen to understand rather than listening to formulate your next response.
- Being the better person: When challenged, before you get defensive... pause!
- Normalizing Intelligent Failure: When we talk about embracing failure, it's not ALL failure. We still have to smart about the failures we embrace.
And so so much more!
00:00 Intro
00:45 Defining psychological safety
02:44 An overview of the 5 plays
05:45 Simple ways to invite opinions
07:46 Listening
11:58 When you are attacked
16:28 You might be justified
17:41 Maybe you won't have to confront the person
21:33 Embracing risk and failure
23:56 Creating inclusion
26:32 The importance of inclusion (it's biology
**Find Karolin & Minette**
Website: https://www.thepsychologicalsafetyplaybook.com/
LinkedIn Karolin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karolinhelbig/
LinkedIn Minette: https://www.linkedin.com/in/minettenorman/
Book: The Psychological Safety Playbook
**Find Andrea (me)**
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
The Problem with HR Strategy
Tuesday, August 4, 2026 • Duration 15:10
You think you have an HR strategy but you don't. Because strategy is not a list of programs.
You have a strategy when you create something aimed at concrete business outcomes like risk reduction, market growth, and core operational productivity. In this discussion, Ranya Nehmeh, founder of Elevar HR Advisory, shares her framework for escaping operational traps and
building sustainable partnerships with senior leadership.
Key Takeaways:
- The Blueprint: A real strategy must outline exactly where the business is going, the specific capabilities required, and what operational elements must change.
- Language Barrier: HR teams often focus on framework completion and engagement scores, while business leads focus strictly on revenue, risk, and productivity. HR needs to shift.
- The Agility Trap: Constant structural reorganization without
foundational operational stability breeds severe change fatigue across teams and doesn't create business results.
- Manager Accountability: Middle managers account for roughly 70% of the variance in team engagement, making them the literal execution point of your strategy.
00:00 Intro
01:53 Speak the language of your business leaders
05:32 Avoiding the Agility Trap
08:48 When Engaged Employees are Leaving
10:50 Managers' Role in Team Engagement
12:47 Audit Your Strategy
**Find Ranya**
Website: https://elevare-hr.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranyanehmeh/
**Find Andrea (me)**
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
How to fix a dysfunctional manager - get to the root
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 • Duration 26:39
HR is failing when we look at problems narrowly: accepting a manager's convenient opinion that the employee is the problem.
This episode looks at how human resources professionals can properly diagnose whether a team issue stems from the employee, the manager, or the system they both work within. Debbie Pearmain and I look at what actually works to improve the performance of a manager.
I meant most managers work 10 years before they ever get any training. And training alone is questionably effective.
So key takeaways:
- Look for systemic patters: Individual issues point to the employee,
but multiple struggling teams indicate systems.
- Three lenses for assessing: Always evaluate leadership challenges
through capability, capacity, and the system.
- The problem with off-the-shelf training: A single supervisory course probably isn't going to be enough.
- Old methods: Old training methods are unlikely to work because things have changed. Now managers have cognitive overload, AI disruption, emotional fatigue, and hybrid workplace complexities.
- Pair training with coaching: True behavioral modification happens when educational training is reinforced with ongoing, personalized executive coaching. We've tried turning the managers into coaches and that didn't really work.
00:00 Intro
01:13 Holding the Mirror Up to Leaders
02:24 Subtle Indicators of Poor Team Trust
04:21 Thinking about the Systems
07:47 Using Team Engagement Surveys Well
10:06 How to Assess Leadership Capability
12:40 Tailoring Coaching to Low Medium and High Performance
15:21 The Failure of Generic Courses
19:18 Modern Leadership Challenges
20:48 Combining Training and Coaching
25:10 Connecting Leadership Vitality Programs to ROI
**Find Debbie**
Website: https://www.onestophr.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbie-lang-pearmain-116551/
**Find Andrea (me)**
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
HR Strategy - Looking Outside our Organizations
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 • Duration 27:11
Most of us spend our days heads-down focusing on our immediate work - compensation, hiring, performance management, employee issues... But HR leaders need to look up - and out.
To build a strong workforce strategy, we must look beyond organizational boundaries to anticipate macroeconomic, political, and technological shifts. In this episode, former Vice President of HR Jim Utley shares how to successfully transition your human resources function from purely operational to deeply strategic.
Key Takeaways
1) Look Outside the Building: Operational HR is necessary, but managers and leaders must lift their heads to track external economic, social, political, technological, and environmental forces.
2) Use the five external pillars to organize your thoughts around
external risk
3) Use frontline intelligence - after all they interact with our clients
and products all the time
4) Read broadly.
5) Be active in industry groups OUTSIDE of HR
And much more.
00:00 Intro
01:44 The external influences
04:11 The five core strategic planning categories
08:37 Gathering data from the frontline
11:07 The case for being well-read
13:07 Example 1: Technological change
15:20 Example 2: Climate change
19:21 How to do this
24:21 One tool: black swan scenarios
25:53 Connecting with Jim Utley
**Find Jim or his book**
Website: https://books.friesenpress.com/store/title/119734000607247171/James-Utley-People-Working
**Find Andrea (me)**
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
Performance management conversations can be stressful. This video should help.
If you are nervous about it, you have probably been avoiding it and
avoidance will not solve the problem. This video will help you prepare for and execute difficult workplace conversations without watering down your core message.
So learn how to address behavioural issues constructively while maintaining professional boundaries and respect.
Key Takeaways
- Be Prepared: Consider specific 'evidence because general impressions or vagueness will cause defensiveness.
- Prioritize Clarity: Avoid softening the message so much that the
employee leaves under the impression everything is fine.
- Explain the Business Impact: Connect the performance issue directly to how it hurts the team or goes against organizational values.
- Invite Real Dialogue: It will help build engagement and ownership in the improvement plan.
And don't forget the consequences. If you have been avoiding it, it is probably serious. Let the employee know early so they have a hope of fixing it.
00:00 Intro
00:47 Gathering your facts
01:23 Be clear (don't water down your message)
03:13 Explain the impact
05:13 Listen
06:34 State the consequences
07:56 Avoid these traps
09:41 Handling the emotions
10:26 Why early, honest conversations prevent escalation
**Find Andrea (me)**
Website: https://thehrhub.ca/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/
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