Areas of Practice

At Bedell Consulting, we believe both employees and leaders strive to make a positive impact at work. Employees want to feel that their work contributes meaningfully to the organization's success and that they belong within the team, while leaders aim to cultivate engaged, loyal teams that think creatively. When challenges arise and goals become difficult to meet, we’re here to offer our expertise and help everyone succeed together. Our goal is to empower your organization with the skills, strategies, and insights needed to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.

In our "Areas of Practice," we provide educational insights into the various ways we can enhance your organization’s effectiveness and address common challenges. For more detailed information on how we can collaborate to achieve your goals, please visit our How We Work With You page.

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZATIONAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Change is an undeniable part of the business world today. To navigate these changes successfully, it’s important to anticipate them and plan effectively.

Succession planning is key, as it enables leaders to identify, train, mentor, and sponsor the next generation of leaders who will step into vital roles within the organization.

Strategic planning also plays a significant role, helping leadership establish a clear vision and set achievable goals for the company’s future.

Through effective change management, leaders can implement necessary changes while guiding their teams to adapt smoothly and effectively.

In this exciting era of artificial intelligence, which is transforming how we work, it’s essential for leaders to create a roadmap that integrates AI with their human resources for scaling their business. By blending the capabilities of AI with the talent of their employees, organizations can cultivate a unified workforce that’s ready to innovate and excel in a competitive landscape.

“The way to manage change effectively is to anticipate the change and plan accordingly.”

AI in the Workplace

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly transformed the world of work, influencing various industries, disciplines, and job roles. Its potential to enhance efficiency, boost productivity, and reshape traditional roles is truly remarkable. Therefore, it's essential for leaders and managers to thoughtfully plan for the adoption of AI tools among their teams. In fact, 67% of Inc 5000 companies in the U.S. are currently using AI, but only 27% have fully integrated it into their operations[1]. Additionally, while 65% of employees feel optimistic about the benefits of AI, 52% have concerns about job security[2]. This underscores the need for a strategic and ethical approach to implementation, ensuring that AI aligns with the core values of the organization and maximizes its advantages as well as ensuring that leadership and managers are AI-enabled.

“This underscores the need for a strategic and ethical approach to implementation, ensuring that AI aligns with the core values of the organization and maximizes its advantages.”

Footnotes:

Dev, A. (2025, April 15). State of AI in the U.S. Workplace. Harvard Business Review.
Carter, L. (2025, March 22). Employee Sentiment Towards AI in the Workplace. Pew Research Center.

WORKPLACE CULTURE AND ENGAGEMENT

A positive workplace culture—one that promotes employee engagement and well-being—boosts both staff and managerial motivation, retention, and the organization’s ability to attract top talent. It’s the responsibility of organizational leadership to establish this culture, demonstrating its values to managers and staff. They must also provide training for managers to help them implement and nurture this culture within their teams and clearly communicate the benefits of such a culture for everyone involved.”

“Organizational leadership plays a key role in creating and modeling a positive workplace culture, setting clear expectations for managers and staff. They must also ensure that the necessary resources, training, and working conditions support and enhance this culture.”

Leadership, Team, and Workforce Development

Developing an organization's human capital is crucial for achieving success and profitability, ultimately delivering a strong return on investment (ROI).

Leadership development empowers employees with the skills and confidence they need to excel in leadership roles in the era of artificial intelligence (AI). This includes knowing how to effectively integrate AI capabilities with the talents and skills of their teams. Additionally, it involves upskilling employees to use AI tools successfully, which keeps everyone engaged and motivated to succeed.

Team development emphasizes building strong, cohesive units that can organize themselves, set goals, solve problems, and achieve results—all while seamlessly incorporating AI technology into their daily workflows to streamline processes and generate ideas that enhance collaboration.

Meanwhile, workforce development offers opportunities for upskilling and continuous education, including training on AI applications, alongside programs designed to enhance morale and well-being, boost productivity, and foster adaptability. This ensures employees continue to add value to the organization while realizing their full potential.

“Investing in human capital through leadership, team, and workforce development is essential for organizational success and helps employees reach their full potential."

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS, COMMUNICATION, AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Employee relations, communication, and emotional intelligence are key to building strong interpersonal relationships among managers, staff, and coworkers. By fostering understanding and open communication, organizations can enhance employee engagement and teamwork. When everyone prioritizes these connections, a friendly and supportive work environment emerges, helping reduce conflicts and improve overall morale.

“When everyone prioritizes these connections, a friendly and supportive work environment emerges, helping reduce conflicts and improve overall morale.”

Effective Communication in the Workplace

Communication is an essential skill in the workplace, and the absence of effective communication can lead to interpersonal and organizational misunderstandings. These misunderstandings can be costly, negatively affecting employee performance, productivity, team collaboration, and innovation. Effective communication involves not only using appropriate communication styles but also engaging successfully in a diverse and inclusive work environment. Strong communication skills are crucial for employees, managers, teams, and organizational leaders alike.

”Effective communication is vital in the workplace, as it helps prevent misunderstandings and enhances employee performance, productivity, and collaboration in diverse and inclusive environments.”

Counterproductive Work Behaviors (Bullying, Discrimination, and Harassment)

Counterproductive work behaviors, such as bullying, discrimination, and harassment, can seriously harm workforce morale, engagement, and productivity, while also negatively affecting the targeted victims and leading to higher absenteeism and turnover rates. These behaviors ultimately impact the organization's bottom line, customer service, and community reputation. To create a psychologically safe work environment, organizational leadership can adopt and enforce zero-tolerance policies against bullying, discrimination, and harassment, while providing training on these important policies.

“Counterproductive work behaviors like bullying, discrimination, and harassment harm not only workforce morale and productivity but also the targeted individuals, necessitating zero-tolerance policies and training to foster a psychologically safe work environment."

Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

The emotions of organizational members significantly affect their work performance, relationships with coworkers, supervisors, and managers, team collaboration, and their ability to lead or manage others. Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as the ability to understand emotions—not only one’s own but also the feelings of others, enabling individuals to reason and solve problems effectively. This understanding helps members manage their own emotions as well as navigate and respond to the emotions of those around them. EI plays a key role in helping individuals cope with workplace challenges, demands, and responsibilities. Importantly, the skills related to emotional intelligence can be learned and developed over time.

"Emotional intelligence is essential for organizational members as it enables them to understand and manage both their own emotions and those of others, significantly impacting their work performance and interpersonal relationships."

Productive Workplace Behaviors

Productive behaviors are actions taken by employees that positively contribute to the organization’s goals and objectives. These behaviors enhance job performance and overall productivity, regardless of the specific skills an employee may possess. Examples of productive work behaviors include effective time management, organization, and communication, as well as being proactive, reliable, and a supportive team player. These actions help improve efficiency, meet deadlines, and create a positive, collaborative work environment. By cultivating these productive behaviors, organizations not only boost individual performance but also promote a thriving workplace culture where everyone feels valued and motivated.

"Productive work behaviors, such as time management, effective communication, and teamwork, significantly enhance individual performance and create a positive, collaborative workplace culture that aligns with organizational goals."

Bedell Consulting is a general industrial and organizational psychology practice that uses evidence-based best practices and workplace behavioral science to create positive changes within organizations. We work with small businesses, organizations, professional associations, non-profits, and government entities.

Instead of viewing organizational issues and problems as unwanted challenges, at Bedell Consulting, we embrace them as opportunities for learning and growth.

We truly believe that both employees and leaders want to make a positive difference at work. Employees want their jobs to matter and to feel like they belong, while leaders want to build a team that is engaged, loyal, and ready to think creatively. When challenges arise and goals become difficult to meet, we’re here to offer our expertise and help everyone succeed together.

We focus on PEOPLE—small business owners, executive leaders, managers, teams, and staff—because they are the heart of every organization. We listen carefully to your challenges and goals, and then, in collaboration with you, apply evidence-based best practices to develop tailored SOLUTIONS. These solutions address workforce and leadership challenges that impact performance, productivity, workplace culture, and the bottom line. Our people-centered approach delivers meaningful, effective RESULTS.

PEOPLE. SOLUTIONS. RESULTS.