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Independent business blogs are blogs that aren't supported by an organization like a magazine, newspaper, company, or business school. Those people provide lots of great content, but they don't need any additional exposure. In this post, every week, I bring you posts of quality from excellent bloggers that don't get as much publicity.

This week, I'm pointing you to posts on dealing with a good person who's a bad culture fit, advice for new managers, learning from experience, workplace flexibility programs, and ROWE.

From HR Bartender: Exit Strategy
"At some point in our careers, we’ll hire a very competent employee who isn’t a good culture fit.  Whether it’s the company’s fault because they didn’t see it during the interview process OR the employee’s fault because they tried too hard to fit into a culture that just wasn’t right for them is immaterial.  It just happens to the best of us."

Wally's Comment: Sharlyn Lauby is right. It does happen to the best of us. And it happens more often to strong cultures, like Nordstrom, Nucor, Ritz-Carlton. So thinking about how to deal with a good person who's a bad fit is a good thing.

From Management Excellence: Things I Wish I Knew When I Became a Leader
"I’ve known Joe for a dozen years over several organizations now, and he’s come a million miles from the first-time leader described in this post.  Joe is a first-rate leader and mentor as well as an outstanding technology and business strategist with a great marketing mind.  He’s the complete package.  I’m hoping we can pry some more outstanding content out of Joe now that he’s come clean and shared his early leadership missteps and lessons learned. "

Wally's Comment: Art Petty brings Joe Zurawski in to add his story of being a new manager and what he had to learn. Good complement to Art's post from last week.

From the Lead Change Group: Overcome the 3 Reasons Leaders Fail To Reflect On The Past
"The more I study leadership, the more a simple truth seems to invade mind: your leadership will improve based on your ability to constructively reflect on your experiences.  The quality of your reflection directly affects the quality of your leadership."

Wally's Comment: We all know that we should learn from experience. And most of us know that we should make time to reflect on that experience. But many of us don't. And all of us have times where we let the reflection slip. Mike Henry suggests three reasons why managers duck the reflection part.

From HR Web Cafe: Workplace flexibility programs on the rise
"Workforce reports that despite the troubled economy - and partly because of it - there has been a 25 percent increase in workplace flexibility programs among employers with more than 1,000 workers. According to a recent survey conducted by the Families and Work Institute of New York, 81% of the 400 companies surveyed have maintained flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, compressed workweeks, phased retirement and voluntary reduced hours, and 13% have increased such programs. Only 6% of the surveyed companies have eliminated flexibility programs. Companies are using flexible work arrangements to minimize layoffs and to bolster productivity and retention. You can learn more by downloading a copy of the study: The Impact of the Recession on Employers (pdf)."

Wally's Comment: Julie Ferguson is one of the best bloggers on the web at pulling together resources and key points related to an issue. This week she's got helpful insights and resource pointers on flexible work programs.

From Renegade HR: Issues and Problems with ROWE
"If you’re not familiar with ROWE (the Results Only Work Environment), here’s the 30-second elevator pitch: Employees can do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. Just like in college, they can’t lie, cheat or steal. But as long as they do their work, they can work wherever and whenever they want to. I actually like ROWE. A lot. In college, your professor didn’t care where you wrote your paper or when you wrote it, as long as you met the requirements and got it in by the deadline. Why do we treat employees like grade schoolers again once they hit the working world? That said, ROWE isn’t perfect. Today, I want to tell you why I don’t like ROWE."

Wally's Comment: Chris Ferdinandi has some reservations about ROWE and he lays them out clearly in his post and his response to comments. Full disclosure: I am a rabid skeptic on ROWE and the hype that surrounds it.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.