Around the holidays, employers can run into a few bumps when planning a company holiday party. What might count as a fun time for some might be considered exclusionary or even offensive for others. How can you plan an office party where everyone feels equally welcome?

We all accept that good leadership requires a balanced, equilateral approach to our team members. Of course, we should never have a favorite employee; HOWEVER as human leaders, every one of us has had that one superstar team member that we rely on greatly and yes, even like a whole lot. It is not hard to prefer “Sally” as the employee who happily volunteers to fill in and rarely demonstrates even the slightest bit of stress. So while we would never have favorites, it is difficult to not favor Sally when her counterpart, Jimmy, is hiding the fact that Facebook is now his home page on the company laptop and that his longer and longer breaks are due to him hunting Pokemon in the back parking lot.

Human Resources experts see obvious value in creating organizational cultures that attract and retain exceptional people, yet we find it’s not always easy to convince other business leaders to focus on culture. In fact, lots of times, when we talk about spending time or resources on improving culture, leaders instantly think “culture” equals “fluff”: activities that ultimately make people feel good but don’t positively impact the bottom line or mission, and therefore, it’s not worth the investment. But, what happens if we don’t take the time to invest in culture?

Managing people is no easy task. It requires a good attitude, people skills and the ability to build trust throughout an organization. Managers are tasked with the dichotomous responsibility of managing and leading. They must both negotiate the organization’s bottom line while fostering a healthy sustainable workforce. The key to this is front line management with high levels of self-awareness. Awareness creates room for developing the ability to understand and model the values of an organization. If your managers are unaware of their impact, they may be doing more harm than good.

Regardless of the nature of the transaction, during a merger or acquisition, all employees find themselves surrounded by change, impacting everything from organizational culture to the snacks in the kitchen. From here it is an exercise in simple logic - with change, comes uncertainly - with uncertainty, comes attrition. Is there no way to interrupt this equation?

As a consultant in the field of Human Resources, I am often approached for guidance on how to conduct a difficult conversation in the workplace. I’ve had COO’s come to talk through how to share with their CEO (and boss!) that their contributions in staff meetings are negatively impacting employee morale and undermining their position as COO. I’ve had employees come to me and ask how to talk to their manager about why they feel overwhelmed and underpaid in their role. I’ve had friends call me up and ask about best practices for approaching their manager to let them know they will be resigning from their position. These topics, along with a number of other topics in the workplace, are never an easy conversation to approach and I have found myself consistently providing the following advice in each scenario. Added bonus, these tips apply to those not-so-easy conversations at home as well!