Laurie Maddalena

The past six weeks been challenging for my family. My nine-year-old son has been sick since early August, and we have been visiting several doctors. He has had several medical procedures to determine what is causing his symptoms. After several weeks of anxiety and uncertainty, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder. Witnessing his pain and struggle has been very hard, and my compassion for those who have children with even more serious…

In a recent leadership program session, I was sharing strategies and tools for providing feedback to employees when one of the participants asked me a common question: How do I ask my manager for feedback? This leader said her vice president rarely gives feedback on her performance, and she is often left wondering how she is doing. This is not surprising, since one of the top reasons employees leave organizations is not getting meaningful feedback…

The first presentation I ever gave in my career was as the assistant director of human resources, and my vice president asked me to prepare a presentation for the Board of Directors. I had very little experience presenting—especially to ten successful board members who had decades more work experience than me. The week leading up to the meeting, I felt sick and anxious every day. During the presentation, I could feel my face get flushed…

During my tenure as a vice president of human resources for a credit union in Maryland, I worked with two human resources generalists on my team. Both were good at their jobs; they each had completed training and certifications in HR. Yet one was exceptional—she had a few more years of experience than the other employee and had gained knowledge and confidence through everyday practice. She was a self-starter who I could give any project…

Many of us look forward to a fresh start at the beginning of a new year. The past two years have been chaotic, stressful, and challenging for most of us, and leaders in organizations have not only had to manage employees, but manage the myriad changes caused by the pandemic. Perhaps the past two years you have felt more reactive than proactive as a leader. Now is a great time to recalibrate and focus on…

The pandemic has impacted people in various ways over the past 18 months, and researchers are reporting that many employees are feeling exhausted, burned out and stressed. Gallup has found in their research that employee wellbeing and engagement at work tend to have a reciprocal effect, although in the beginning of the pandemic, engagement levels stayed steady as employees worked hard to shift how they worked. Yet 18 months into this major change, many people…

As some organizations start bringing employees back to the office, many are finding that not all team members are excited to be transitioning back to an office environment full time. Although many employees struggled over the past year to balance work with children learning at home, they also experienced some benefits from a more flexible work environment and no commuting. Employees have gotten used to focusing on results rather than hours worked and have adapted…

Two weeks ago, I dropped my oldest daughter Olivia off for three weeks of sleep away camp. I’m sure this will be a wonderful experience for her, but the week leading up to camp, I started having anxiety about her potential experience. Some of the kids are there all summer and had four weeks to forge friendships before the new kids came to camp for only the last three weeks. Thoughts raced through my head….