The Achilles Team recently read through "7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey". Last week, we discussed the fourth Habit, “Think Win-Win”.This week, we’re touching on Habit Five, “Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood”.Most people seek to be understood, before seeking to understand. Sometimes, when we listen to others, we are thinking about what questions we are going to ask, or what we are going to say next. By doing this, we aren’t truly listening. And if we aren’t...

[caption id="attachment_4385" align="alignleft" width="300"] Handwriting text Think Win Win. Concept meaning Business Strategy Competition Challenge Way to be success Megaphone loudspeaker speech bubble important message speaking out loudThe Achilles Team recently read through "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. Two weeks ago, we discussed the third Habit: Put First Things First. The fourth Habit, titled “Think Win-Win”, focuses on principles of interpersonal leadershi...

It’s no secret that great organizations cannot flourish without strong organizational communication. But what does that look like? Here are five strategies for effective organizational communication in the workplace. Create an Environment That Supports Open Communication.Whether it's formal, informal, upward, downward or horizontal communication, it's imperative to cultivate an environment where all team members feel free to express their ideas and share their concerns. Communication within your...

The Achilles Team recently read through “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey. Last week, we discussed the second habit, “Begin with the End in Mind”. The third habit is “Put First Things First”. In this chapter, Covey discusses the importance of organizing and executing tasks and goals to achieve your most important priorities.The third habit is a result of individuals adopting Habits 1 & 2. In Habit 2, we spoke about the importance of our creativity. Habit 3 speaks ...

The Achilles Team recently read through "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. Last week we discussed the first habit, "Be Proactive". This week, we're taking a look at the second habit, “Begin with the End in Mind”. This habit is based on the principle that everything is created twice. The first is creativity by wisdom, and the second is practical creation. When we have a great idea, we use our imaginations and self-knowledge to create our idea, which gives us the opport...

Going "beyond the suit" to provide continuous development for women.[caption id="attachment_4307" align="alignleft" width="432"] The Achilles Team at our 2018 Dress For Success volunteer day.Partnerships express our values as a company. As a Professionally Human organization, we pride ourselves on the investment we make in our people, not just within Achilles Group, but in our clients as well to encourage leadership. Dress For Success Houston’s mission is to empower women to achieve economic ind...

At Achilles Group, we are big believers in continuing education and bettering ourselves through the proactive pursuit of knowledge. Our team recently read through "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey, a book that has been a best-seller for decades. If you haven't read it, you'll soon know why - in his book, Covey explains that our personalities are a mixture of habits. Every day we express these habits subconsciously, and in turn, show our effectiveness and ineffectivene...

Great teamwork is a catalyst for success in any organization. But it doesn’t always come easily, and needs to be fostered and encouraged in order to thrive and grow People Performance. Below are four tips for creating a culture of teamwork in your organization.It Starts at the Top – it’s difficult to foster a teamwork environment when leadership is consistently scattered, unorganized and not on the same page. The whole “do as I say and not as I do” mantra just doesn’t cut it in the workplace. In...

There are many misconceptions about the world of human resources. As a field, it can be thought of as rigid, dry and black-and-white. Perhaps even inflexible and unforgiving at times. However, not all human resources professionals are cut from the same cloth of conformity. Though bragging isn’t typically in our nature, we at Achilles Group pride ourselves on our Professionally Human approach to business. It’s our business to know your business, and that means getting to know each and every clien...

Achilles Group is a team of accomplished human resources professionals that have taken the concept of teamwork, and elevated it to the next level. While we are all HR generalists by trade, each of us specializes in an area of human resources expertise. We speak of ourselves as working stronger, smarter and faster as a team. It is this mentality that enables us to deliver superior human resources support and gives us the fluidity to work with clients from diverse backgrounds and industries.In lat...

The new year is a time of renewal, refocus and rejuvenation for many, and we at Achilles Group are no exception. Towards the end of 2018, we took a look at our website and realized there was room for growth and improvement. With the help of our marketing partners at NextLevel Thinking, we set forth on a mission to update the look and content of achillesgroup.com. The sum of our brainstorming sessions, creative development, client and team photo shoots, copywriting edits and SEO enhancements woul...

As each new year begins, so does a new resolution – a new commitment of change to reach a goal. These aspirations involve a desire to part from the status quo and commonly involve personal health, financial, or lifestyle goals. But why do we make these resolutions? What is the history behind them? And how many people actually keep them?New Year’s resolutions aren’t anything new. The tradition of New Year’s resolutions actually dates back to 153 B.C. The word January comes from the mythical god o...

In addition to providing ongoing support and training for your hiring managers, it’s essential to maintain a candidate pipeline, track turnover and create a metrics-driven scoreboard to continually evaluate your organization’s recruiting efforts.Maintaining a candidate pipeline will assist in forecasting and planning your hiring needs. Instead of reacting to a workload crisis and rushing to make a hire, proactively assess your employment needs on a regular basis and look to fill in necessary gap...

So, you’ve successfully hired and on-boarded your newest employee. You might think the recruiting process is complete and it’s time to resume your normal job responsibilities. And while part of that is true, the recruiting process is an ongoing initiative.What can be done to proactively educate managers on recruiting practices? The answer is to maintain support for managers through ongoing education and training. The approach and execution will vary by organization, but it’s important to have pr...

You’ve finally narrowed down your job candidates and selected one you’d like to hire. Now, it’s time to extend a job offer and on-board your newest employee. Follow these three tips to successfully close the deal, then read through our onboarding checklist to welcome your new-hire to your organization.Closing The Deal  Don’t Waste Time – time is of the essence when it comes to making an offer to your first-pick candidate. Once you’ve made a decision on who you’d like to hire, make haste and make...

Now that you’ve completed the interview process for your job opening, it’s time to determine the top candidates for the role. You might already know who you’d like to hire, or you might feel torn between a few star candidates who are equally qualified for the role. How do you decide on the one final candidate to extend an offer? Keep reading to learn about different assessment methods to identify top candidates.Enthusiastic About the Job – of the candidates that are under consideration, is there...

 So, you’ve successfully navigated through the process of sorting through resumes and selected key candidates you’d like to learn more about. Now it’s time for the next step of Recruiting Effectiveness – interviewing applicants. It’s no secret that interviewing can be overwhelming, even for the most experienced hiring manager. But it doesn’t have to be. Keep reading to learn about a few of our interviewing best practices. Evaluate Your Interviewing Process– with the rising popularity o...

In prior posts, we have explained a PEO and an ASO.  So, you may be wondering how Achilles Group differs from a Professional Employer Organization And an Administrative Services Only approach.  There are really three major differences: - Our Level of Expertise, - Our Proactive Engagement Model, - You Get a Designated HR Professional Who Will Guide the Relationship.Because we are not providing payroll and insurance products, we are able to focus solely on your people and conduct a deep and thorou...

The fourth step in Achilles Group’s Recruiting Effectiveness process is to the Narrow the Field or eliminate resumes from your response pool that don’t fit the bill of what you’re looking for in a job candidate. This involves sifting through resumes and conducting phone screens and occurs after you’ve selected your recruiting methods and posted your job opening.Here’s our list of Do’s and Don’ts for sorting through job post responses:DO set aside time to thoroughly review resumes. Doing so will ...

There are many HR options available to the marketplace these days, and while that creates great competition and choice, it also creates a great deal of confusion.  What is an HRO? So, we have explained a PEO and an ASO. And finally, we’d like to help you understand the definition of an HRO. It stands for Human Resources Outsourcing, and Achilles Group falls into this category.However, with our Professionally Human approach, we are unlike any other HRO. Most HROs available on the market today bas...