Introduction

Human Resources / Leadership Expert

Developing and leading initiatives across compensation, benefits, payroll, HR compliance, and management development, ensuring competitiveness while maintaining cost efficiency, engagement, and aligning with your long-term strategy.

I’m a versatile and well-versed senior-level Human Resources expert with more than 20 years of “boots-on-the-ground” experience.

My work developing HR programs, systems, and documentation once resulted in a 47% INCREASE in employee satisfaction in less than 8 months.

My work on HR and Administrative process improvements has resulted in an 83% increase in productivity and efficiency both in-house and with vendor partnerships.

I’ve implemented accountability-based discipline and training which reduced accidents and lost time, “sick” callouts, and produced 75% more completed projects within 8 months.

During my consulting career, I have been successful at eliminating sexual harassment claims, hostile work environment claims, retaliation claims, and wrongful termination claims. Increasing retention, revenues, and productivity as high as 96%.

Something I’m most proud of is my work with management teams to improve performance management, employee relations, engagement, and retention to improve an organization’s overall employee ratings from 2.9 to 4.7 out of 5 in less than 2 years.

What do I bring to the table?

• Creative problem solving/analysis.
• New solutions to old and continuing problems.
• Humility and accountability.
• Collective bargaining contract experience.
• Solid, empathetic leadership.
• Never-missed deadlines.
• Expert Payroll, Compensation, and Benefits Management

• Extensive Tech experience. I haven’t met an application I can’t master.
• Full recruiting life-cycle — creative approaches.
• Workers’ Compensation/OSHA safety savings

My management style is firm but compassionate.

I hire people smarter than me.
I expect people to be able to do the job they were hired for and encourage asking for help (that isn’t a weakness).
I do not accept excuses for bad performance, dishonesty, blaming, bad behavior, or missed deadlines, using any negative moment as a teaching moment.
I encourage giving kudos when they are deserved and constructive criticism when needed. (Kudos out loud, Criticize quietly)
I am a proponent of continuing training, education, and job counseling at all levels of employment (top-down).

I believe my skills and accomplishments would be a great asset and help your organization excel in your master plan.

I’ve been consulting off and on for most of these past 20 years, and I feel it is time for me to find a “home” with a company that embraces change, new ideas, and a “what’s next” mindset.

I look forward to discussing how my knowledge, skills, and resources can add to your continued success.

If you’re tired of the status quo in your HR departments and want to try something new — we should talk.

Experience

Senior Human Resources Consultant

Self employed. Manager/Director Level

2010 to Present

Contractual Positions:

Refreshment Services – Pepsi Franchise – 7 years
Unique Personnel – Recruiting Agency – 3 years
Municipal Entities – 5+ years
150+ CEOs, Executive Board Members, Small Business Owners️ – 10 yrs

#BadBossFixer – discover the root causes of negative leadership behaviors and learn to build on your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.

Define, Plan & Build out new company culture programs for increased retention, quality hires, and increased revenues.

Senior leadership development training,
Employment assessments/evaluations,
Analytical payroll & HR data,
Corporate culture consulting;
Collective bargaining (AFSCME, FOP, Teamsters, Laborers), grievances, memorandums of understanding (MOUs),
Performance Improvement Plans,
Succession planning,
Team Supervision
Retention strategies, and
Strategic hiring practices.

Creation of Total Rewards programs: new salary structures, banding, benefits.

Implementation, roll-out, and training of HRIS systems: Paycom, ADP Workforce Now, Paycor, Paychex, Workday, Kronos

Increased employee satisfaction by 47%
Decreased turnover rates by 68%
Ethics & Values Training
High-Performance Leadership Communication Strategy Training Development
Built 90-day New Hire Onboarding Programs increasing retention by 73%

Public speaking, senior leadership training/coaching, staff assessments, culture assessments.
HR Investigations: sexual harassment, workplace violence, fraud, bullying, discrimination
Develop and Train New Hire Onboarding Programs
Union policies, practices, and regulations.
Progressive Discipline
Cognitive Behavior Training
Ethics, Values, & DEI Training & Development
Workplace Culture, Labor Relations, Hiring, Recruiting, and Retention
Employee Engagement Program Development
Internal Employee & Management Auditing / Action Implementation

Reduce turnover rates by 58% in one year saving $175K
Increased employee satisfaction by 96% in two years
Reduce burnout among staff AND management
Increased efficiency and productivity

Human Resources Consultant

2000 to 2010

Contractual Positions:

Department of Corrections – 13 mo.
Department of Human Services – 8 mo.
Wave Technologies – 6 mo.
Department of Child Support – 6 mo.
Real estate agencies – several 6 -9 month contracts
Manufacturing – Plastics, Metal Works – 4 years
Excel Online – 3 yrs
State Farm Campus – 1 yr
Non-Profit Membership Agencies – 3 yrs

Executive consulting and coaching.
Full payroll administration
HR Administration: FMLA, OSHA, EEOC, Worker’s Compensation, etc.
Wage & Salary Analysis, Step Increases, “Banding”
CBU agreements, grievance procedures, progressive discipline, employee performance plans, and terminations.
Implementation and training of HRIS systems.
Team Supervision
Technical writing, application development & training, SOP development, web design.

Testimonials

I was extremely impatient. Quick to snap at co-workers, even my students. It was embarrassing and I couldn't go on like that. I'd tried traditional therapy before, without any results. Lisa was the first non-doctor to ask me to really look at what specifically I was impatient with. She helped me see I'd been harboring some unresolved issues from my youth. Once she helped me get past those, I found myself being a happier, patient, and friendly person -- both at home and at work!

I found myself getting sucked into the office gossip and bitching. My staff wasn't showing me the respect I needed (barging into my office, interrupting calls, etc.) and we had an overall feeling of a heavy atmosphere. Lisa worked a miracle! She showed me how to build the boundaries between me and my staff and how to eliminate all of the negativity consuming us. Lisa says we all contain the fire of our own bliss. I think Lisa is the match that sparks that fire.

Lisa has a positive energy that is contagious, and you will feel like you can accomplish anything with her as your happiness coach!

Since working with Lisa, I don't have panic attacks at the thought of dealing with people. Thanks to her methods, I finally have control over my social anxiety! I'm still a shy person, but I'm not saying "no" to outings, meetings, etc. Thank you Lisa!!

Lisa helped me learn I can't control everything, so why worry about it? Since working with her, I'm sleeping more and I'm not snapping at my family after work. I'm able to confront employees when I have to, instead of putting it off. The boss said I've done a complete 180 in regards to my leadership as well! -- Don't wait to work with Lisa!!!

Before working with Lisa, I avoided confrontation at work whenever possible. Morale in my office was awful! Whenever there was an issue, I'd get busy being busy just so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Today, I don't have awful sweat-inducing panics attacks. Lisa's methods work. Period.

20+ Yrs Expert Skills

Human Resources Management
Performance Management
Strategic Planning
Change Management
Risk management
Crisis Management
Continuous Improvement Planning
Conflict Management
Program Management
Team Management
Project Management
Organizational Design

Management Consulting
Business Coaching
Multi-State Employment & Labor Law
Benefits administration
Payroll management
Workers’ compensation
COBRA, FMLA, EEOC, FLSA Administration
Motivational Interviewing
Supervisory Experience – 40+ team members
HR Sourcing
HR Analysis & Reporting
Organizational Management

Talent Acquisition & Management
Employee Onboarding, Evaluation, Retention
Senior leadership
Succession Planning
Program Development
Training & Development
Benefits & Compensation Planning
Microsoft Suite of Applications
Google Suite of Applications
ADP Workforce Now
Kronos
Workday
iCIMS

Education/Assessments/Certifications

BS Industrial Organizational Psychology
Certified Business Coach
Certified CBT Practitioner
Certified Mental Health Practitioner
Certified Payroll Professional
Certified DISC Model of Human Behavior
Certified Enneagram Coach

Certified mNLP Professional Coach
Certified System Business Coach
Certified Staffing Professional
Certified Technical Trainer
Certified Information Mapping Specialist
Certified 7MTF Trainer
(7 Motivational Temperament Factors)

Compensation & Benefits – Expert
Management & leadership skills: Planning & execution
Management & leadership skills: Impact & influence

Bachelor of Science

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

The scientific study of human behavior in organizations and the work place. Addresses issues of recruitment, selection and placement, training and development, performance measurement, workplace motivation and reward systems, quality of work life, structure of work and human factors, organizational development.

Who the heck is lisa kay bonner?

Hey! It’s so nice you’ve stopped by!

Aside from my serious experty-ness (totally a real word), I’m a very positive and extroverted personality type. But, I’m not loud. I think sneakers are better than heels and leggings ARE pants.

In my off hours, you can find me in a few different places: out in my flower and veggie gardens; on the patio with a cold beverage and a good book; in my recliner snuggling with my Pekingese/ Terrier mix old dog, Buddy; or spending time laughing with friends.

I’m a firm believer that #CookiesAreLife, you can’t go wrong with a slice of decadent cheesecake, and #DadJokesAreFunny — the cornier, the better.

Football (Saints! Who Dat?!) is better than baseball (except the Cubs or Indians).

Lucille Ball and Robin Williams are the funniest comedians to have ever lived. (I said what I said.)

I’m originally from north-western Ohio, just off the western coast of Lake Erie, where you can find some of the best walleye and yellow-tailed perch fishing on the planet.

In another life I was a beach bum, and, when it’s too cold to go outside, I make jewelry & bake.

Contact and Connect With Me...

Grow your business to new heights with human resources management expertise.

Post-Pandemic Leadership Development

The old ways of leading just don't cut it anymore. Employees are demanding work/life balance, better pay, autonomy, equity, inclusion, and advancement opportunities. Most of all, they are demanding workplaces be empathetic and view them as human beings with family and lives outside the job.

I take the complication and mystery out of these issues and teach you how to adapt your leadership to embrace strengths, diminish weaknesses, and lead your teams and organization to success.

The Official BadBossFixer^TM Leadership Development

An IHHP survey showed 95% of companies as underperforming in leadership. Another study gave incredibly low scores to individual leaders overall. The effect of this toxicity? It's one of the driving factors in "The Great Resignation", and is something that is easily remedied.

More than one-third of those who quit in 2021 (35%) cited feeling disrespected at work as a major reason for jumping ship.

It's time to get your leadership teams up to snuff...

Culture, Ethics & Values Development & Training

Culture exists in the space between what an organization professes and what it does.

Core values are your company’s “most persistent, most important priorities.” They are the “rules we follow when no one is looking” and “who we really are as opposed to who we . . . say we are.”

Business ethics are the moral principles that act as guidelines for the way a business conducts itself and its transactions.

Client Testimonials

Lisa Kay is kind and giving, with strong emotional intelligence. She sets clear expectations and holds people accountable. Lisa Kay helped us redefine our company culture and develop a mission statement and corporate values. She provided us with a fresh perspective on how to more efficiently handle issues and achieve results without tolerating negativity. I would tell other clients to welcome Lisa Kay, be receptive to what she has to offer and she will not disappoint.

I was challenged with leading a young, diverse team in a growing company. Through different exercises over the last year, Lisa taught me how to step back from emotionally driven, heated situations so I could refocus before reacting. I learned how to clear my mindset and make time to touch base with each team member. I communicate much better now with my team and they now communicate better with each other. Lisa is fantastic. She’s very friendly and centered and a great listener. If you want to be a better leader, work with Lisa and go through the exercises. It will pay off.

I wanted to go where I could take a hard look at myself, where the feedback wasn’t sugar coated. I needed to see what I was doing and what I could change to be more effective. I learned there can be a big difference between my intent and my impact — that was a blind spot for me. Now I pay attention to how people are receiving what I am saying and doing.

It was an experience to remember – literally. Lisa Kay and how she implements the coaching process offers a new way to connect with our needs as humans. I learned to identify how my communication impacted me personally and on my team. I’ve seen a dramatic improvement (and ease!) in my interaction with my clients and business partners. I highly recommend Lisa Kay and her programs. Her training processes are, without a doubt, ones that others can benefit from!

Lisa Kay is one of the most insightful and innovative executive advisors. As a business owner, her specialized skills allowed me to gain more confidence and discover my full leadership potential. I appreciate her vast knowledge and generosity in sharing it. I consider her beautiful human nature and wisdom a blessing to both my professional and personal life path! I highly recommend Lisa Kay and will continue to utilize her services and programs to support my team and my business expansion efforts.

I was a little hesitant to start the leadership and coaching work, I have found most leadership training to be dominated by vacuous PowerPoint bullets and one size fits all models. Instead Lisa Kay offered something wholly unique and singularly powerful - unflinching, individualized coaching aimed at actionable outcomes. Leaders at all levels will benefit from Lisa Kay's combination of experience, insight, and practical guidance!

Working with Lisa Kay was transformational for me personally and my team. She listened and helped the team clearly identify the challenges we were having. Lisa Kay knew how to quickly understand our challenges, and effectively turn them into structured solutions. We learned how mindfulness can be applied to reduce errors and lessen the impact of job stress. As our group dynamic is now one of more collaboration and trust. Lisa Kay is a gifted executive coach and leader.

Recruiting, Onboarding, & Retention Plans

Efficient Hiring Process - from the job posting to the 1st day of work. This will not only save your company some serious cash, but also streamline and shorten the post-to-hire time. Hire within weeks, not months --every time.

Behavior-Based Questions to Ask

Have you ever been fired? Why? How did you cope with it?
What do you think are the key qualities for this position?
What one area of your performance do you struggle with?
What strategies do you use when you cannot solve a problem?

Comprehensive 90-Day Onboarding Process - helping new hires at all levels to acclimate is key to long-term retention.

A 90-day plan should:

Serve as a single reference point for resources, outlets for support, and clarity on responsibilities and goals
Introduce and foster an environment that supports regular growth conversations with managers so the employee can envision their path for advancement
Orient the new employee to company and team culture by emphasizing relationships and shared objectives
Reinforce strategies that support a growth mindset and a proactive work style

On-going Retention Process - Continual support, recognition, motivation, feedback, flexibility all support a long-term retention goal.

Stay-Interview Questions to Ask

What do you look forward to each day when coming to work?
Have you every thought of leaving? What made you think that?
What can we do to make work better for you?
What's our company's dumbest rule?

Equitable Benefits & Compensation Planning

Throughout the employee cycle, equitable pay is one of the main drivers of employee engagement and retention. The modern workforce has never been more passionate about eliminating pay discrepancies and standing up for equitable pay – and they’ve never had more leverage to switch jobs.

However, 58% of participating organizations in Salary.com’s Pay Practices and Compensation Strategy do not have a formal process for addressing pay equity. To make matters worse, 63% of organizations that do not have a pay equity policy also stated they do not believe their employees were paid fairly.

Pay equity is not only critical for individual employees, but also has positive links to overall organizational culture. Defining a formal equitable pay strategy is critical to improve employee perceptions of pay fairness in your organization.

So, how do you go about ensuring equitable benefits & compensation? This 5-step plan is a good start:

Step 1: Design an inclusive total rewards strategy

Step 2: Build salary bands

Step 3: Eliminate salary negotiations

Step 4: Create a rubric and clear timeline for managing performance

Step 5: Insert a system of checks and balances

Contact and Connect With Me...

The Consequences of Toxic Leaders

Bad leadership undermines several important factors of a leader’s impact:

#𝗧𝗼𝘅𝗶𝗰𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 – Strong leaders purposely pursue worthy goals. Toxic leaders subvert their organizations’ goals to their own personal goals.

𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗲 – In any organization, success depends on high morale among the workforce. Toxic leaders destroy morale. They make their subordinates feel as if they are cogs in machines that exist to glorify their leaders’ virtues.

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 – People don’t work hard for leaders they dislike. Productivity takes a nose-dive under toxic leaders.

𝗟𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘆 – The only loyalty toxic leaders feel is toward themselves. It’s no surprise their followers aren’t loyal to them.

𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 – Strong leaders are ethical and live and work by a strong moral code. Egotistical leaders are the opposite. Eventually, they exude “moral decay” and cause others to compromise their ethics as well.

𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – Leadership should be a noble activity dedicated to the firm and to people you lead. Toxic leaders care only about themselves and develop contemptible reputations within their organizations.

Today’s business climate is all about upward change. It’s time for a 𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝘿𝙚𝙩𝙤𝙭 and promote positivity and excellence.

The High Cost of Bad Bosses

“What astounds me is that organizations still blindly accept the premise that having bad managers is a routine and inevitable cost of doing business. I wonder if this would be as acceptable if our executives knew the true costs: lost productivity, turnover of high-performing employees $600B, $190 billion in healthcare costs, and 120,000 annual deaths.” — Lisa K Bonner

Emotional Intelligence, Cognitive Behavior, Positive Psychology Training

Whenever I’m in front of an executive audience I ask a simple question: “Do you have bad managers* in your organization?” (*people who manage people)

So far, 100% of the people I’ve asked this question have responded that yes, they do have bad managers. Every. Time.

We know why most organizations have bad managers. It's become common practice to promote top contributors to supervisory roles, regardless of whether they have the experience/knowledge to lead people. And sometimes, they just suck.

Why do you still have bad managers? It’s one thing to put someone unqualified into the role. But once you have done so and are admitting that they are bad at it, why do you keep them in a role they are obviously unsuited for? That's just compounding the mistake and setting that manager (and the company) up for failure.

9 times out of 10, your management teams lack the necessary emotional intelligence and understanding of behaviors to effectively lead their teams. Traditional leadership development training doesn't cover those things. I do. Let's chat about how my trainings can turn your management teams around.

Corporate Culture Directly Influences Company Performance.

If your culture doesn’t help employees feel motivated and valued, morale suffers, performance deteriorates and productivity drops.

Any effort you make in creating and maintaining an attractive corporate culture will fail if your company doesn’t practice what it preaches.

You may be tempted to fix your corporate culture from the bottom up, but you need to start at the very top.

Meet with your C-suite executives to discuss your company’s values and practices.
Ask them to evaluate how their own behavior reflects those values and to identify employees who embody them.
Create an effective and safe system for gathering feedback from employees in all levels.
Design an action plan to implement the changes needed to repair or improve your corporate culture.

Contact and Connect With Me...

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is Crucial for Today's Competitive Workplace

Technical skills and IQ can only help a leader so much in terms of effectiveness and impact on teams. EI is the defining differentiator.

In a Gallup study of two million employees at 700 companies, researchers found that employee turnover and productivity are largely determined by the workers’ supervisors. Engaged teams have less turnover, higher customer ratings, greater profitability, higher productivity, less theft, fewer safety incidents and less absenteeism. Employees who had managers with high EQ were four times less likely to leave than those who had managers with low EQ. When teams become more engaged, work feels very different for employees.

Contact and Connect With Me...

The 9 Employee Experience Categories

Where does your company fall on the employee experience spectrum?

There are more options than just being good or bad at employee experience. The nine categories that can apply to organizations based on the three employee experience environments: culture, technology, and physical space:

Inexperienced companies are poor in all three areas. Employee experience isn’t a consideration for companies stuck in old-fashioned, hierarchical practices.

Then there are three types of companies that excel in just one of the employee experience areas.

Technology emergent companies are good at technology but poor at culture and physical space. Employees may have the newest devices and software but not the culture and environment to support their use.
Physically emergent companies are good at physical space but poor at culture and technology. These companies have flashy offices and lots of perks, but employees aren’t engaged and don’t have the right tools.
Culturally emergent companies are good at culture but not at physical space or technology. They stick to their mission or values, but employees are held back by a lack of tools, training, and flexibility.

The next level up is companies that are good in two areas.

Enabled companies are good at physical space and technology but poor at culture. Employees have the tools and space to work, but the structure and environment are lacking.
Empowered companies are good at culture and technology but poor at physical space. Employees would excel if it weren’t for a poor office space or WFH setup.
Engaged companies are good at culture and physical space but poor at technology. These employees want to do their best work but don’t have the technology to back it up.

The final level is companies that focus on all three areas of employee experience.

Pre-Experiential companies are good at culture, technology, and physical space. They have a well-rounded approach to employee experience.
Experiential companies are amazing at culture, technology, and physical space. Very few companies hit this point, but the ones that do crush the competition and create an environment of engaged and empowered employees who can make a difference.

Where does your company fall in these categories? By identifying where you are now, you can identify areas for improvement to help your company move towards the ultimate goal of being an experiential organization.

Human Resources / Leadership Expert

Experience

Senior Human Resources Consultant

Human Resources Consultant

Testimonials

Contact and Connect With Me...

20+ Yrs Expert Skills

Education/Assessments/Certifications

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Who the heck is lisa kay bonner?

Contact and Connect With Me...

Grow your business to new heights with human resources management expertise.

Post-Pandemic Leadership Development

The Official BadBossFixerTM Leadership Development

Culture, Ethics & Values Development & Training

Client Testimonials

Recruiting, Onboarding, & Retention Plans

Equitable Benefits & Compensation Planning

Contact and Connect With Me...

The Consequences of Toxic Leaders

#𝗧𝗼𝘅𝗶𝗰𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀

The High Cost of Bad Bosses

Emotional Intelligence, Cognitive Behavior, Positive Psychology Training

Corporate Culture Directly Influences Company Performance.

Contact and Connect With Me...

What Skills Do Leaders Need?

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is Crucial for Today's Competitive Workplace

Contact and Connect With Me...

The 9 Employee Experience Categories

Contact and Connect With Me...

The Official BadBossFixer^TM Leadership Development