Did You Teach Them to Swim? with Dr. Akilah Bradford

They said they could swim in the interview. Nobody asked if they could swim in this pool. Jackye Clayton talks with Dr. Akilah Bradford, HR executive consultant and founder of The HR DOC Consulting, about Temper, the family Rottweiler raised by a whole household, and Scruffy, the poodle mix who would do anything for chicken. They get into why the same command does not work on every dog or every employee, why what motivates someone changes over time, the "difficult" new hire who never got onboarding, and the manager who wants a rule enforced on everyone except their favorite. The pack shapes the behavior. Before you label someone the problem, look at the system that made them.

People who seem checked out are often people nobody trained.

What motivates someone changes over time, so the reward has to change too.

A new hire learns the job from the team around them, good habits and bad.

You cannot hold someone accountable for an expectation nobody set.

Rules that apply to everyone except the favorite break trust across the team.

Before calling someone difficult, look at their onboarding, their manager and their team.

00:00 - Cold open: did you teach them to swim?

00:48 - Temper and Scruffy

04:27 - What motivates changes over time

06:13 - Thrown in the pool

10:29 - The pack shapes behavior

14:59 - Your favorite employee

17:39 - Difficult employees

19:59 - The heel

24:28 - Before you label someone

27:01 - Close and next time

Find Dr. Akilah at hr-doc.com, on LinkedIn, and on Instagram @HR_DOC.

Dog training in Waco: keepwacowagging.com. Hiring help: jackyeclayton.com/talentlab