Don't Waste the Chaos

Reactive hiring creates desperate hiring, and desperate hiring creates bad hiring decisions. Most small businesses only hire when they're already drowning - the worst possible time to hire well. Workforce planning is the system that gets you ahead of it. In this episode, Kerri walks through: Why hiring is what you do, but workforce planning is how you decide whether, when, and what role you a...

"We don't have a lot of turnover" is a feeling, not data - and feelings aren't a strategy. If you can't say when your people left or why, you're making decisions blind. In this episode, Kerri walks through:  • The five categories of HR metrics every business should track: retention, hiring, engagement/absenteeism, performance, and compensation  • Time-to-turnover: how...

You're not failing your employees because you can't offer the big, comprehensive benefits package. People leave six-figure jobs for smaller employers all the time - because they stay for stability, trust, respect, and flexibility, not the package. In this episode, Kerri walks through:  • The five categories of benefits (foundational, voluntary, lifestyle, wellness, cultural) - and why mo...

Performance management isn't about reviews — it's about clarity. If your team is confused, resentful, or underperforming, it's an expectations problem, not a motivation problem. Most employees aren't failing to meet the standard; they just don't know what the standard is.   In this episode, Kerri walks through: • The three markers every role needs — what good, great, and &...

One employee asks for time off and you say yes. Another asks three weeks later and you say no. Neither of you realizes you just created a discrimination claim. In Part 6 of the HR Foundations series, Kerri breaks down leave management — the operational area where she sees the most lawsuits. Leave management isn't the flashiest HR topic, but it's where Kerri sees the most lawsuits land on...

Are your salaried employees actually classified correctly under federal law — or are you sitting on overtime liability without knowing it? Most small business owners don't realize there's a three-part exemption test under the Fair Labor Standards Act that every salaried role has to pass. In Episode 5 of the 13 HR Foundations series, Kerri Roberts walks through classification, pay equity,...

Most small and mid-sized businesses don't have an employee handbook problem - they have a "we don't have a policy for that" problem. Scattered Google Drive docs, a handbook from 2017, three managers making three different calls on the same issue. That's how inconsistency claims and wrongful termination exposure start. In Episode 4 of the HR Foundations series, Kerri Robert...

A bad hire costs about 50% of their annual salary in year one - and most of that cost doesn't come from a bad hiring decision. It comes from failed onboarding. If your onboarding looks like paperwork, a quick tour, and "let me know if you have questions," you've handed your new hire abandonment with a welcome sign. In Episode 3 of the HR Systems Series, Kerri Roberts breaks dow...

Think back to the last person who didn't work out in your business. Was it a people problem - or a process problem? Nine times out of ten, it's the process.   In this episode, Kerri Roberts walks through the 5 components of a real small business hiring system - so you can stop winging it and start building a process that protects your business and brings in the right people. [This is Epi...

Most small businesses put HR off until later, and then "later" shows up as a lawsuit, a resignation, or a conversation they never saw coming. This episode launches a brand new series: the 13 HR Systems every small business needs. We're going one system at a time, starting where every business should start - with HR mindset and employer responsibility.   If you've been winging H...

You know the conversation I'm talking about. The employee who's consistently late, creating tension, or putting up bare minimum numbers - and every week you find a reason to put it off one more time. Today that ends.   In this episode, I'm giving you the exact 5-step framework to have the performance conversation you've been avoiding - what to say, how to say it, and how to mak...

Most business owners don't realize their HR is broken — until someone quits, files a complaint, or a lawsuit lands on their desk. In this episode, Kerri Roberts breaks down the 5 most common signs that your HR foundation is crumbling, why ignoring them can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, and how to start fixing it TODAY for less than $400.   From misclassifying employees (yes, it&a...

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast, Kerri Roberts challenges a common assumption among entrepreneurs - that lack of focus is the problem. Instead, she reframes the issue as a lack of commitment to the work that actually drives revenue and long-term stability. Drawing from her own experience building a fractional HR advisory firm, Kerri walks through the pattern many founders fall...

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast , Kerri Roberts examines a question many founders face too late: when is it actually time to hire? Drawing from her own business over the last three years, she walks through the real cost of hiring too early, building roles around people instead of business need, and allowing relief to drive decisions that should have been grounded in structure....

Is marriage still worth it in modern life? Why are so many people skeptical of marriage, commitment, and starting a family? In this episode of Don’t Waste the Chaos , Kerri Roberts sits down with her husband, Terry Roberts, for an honest conversation about modern marriage, fear of commitment, divorce, financial pressure, faith, and what it takes to build a lasting relationship. Together, they talk...

Why do business owners and leaders feel responsible for everyone in their company? In this episode, Kerri Roberts and Rachel Wortman unpack leadership responsibility, money mindset, stewardship, control, and the hidden pressure many founders carry. This conversation explores why so many leaders struggle with over-responsibility in business , why Christian entrepreneurs often feel conflicted about...

What happens after you leave a six-figure corporate leadership role? For many executives, the decision to step away from corporate America is framed as a pursuit of freedom, flexibility, and autonomy. Yet the deeper reality is rarely discussed. Leaving a high-paying job is not just a financial decision—it is an identity shift. In this episode of Don’t Waste the Chaos , host Kerri Roberts reflects...

Kerri Roberts, senior HR strategist and fractional CHRO, continues her personal leadership series with a deeper look at what happens after you leave corporate leadership—when the title goes away, the scoreboard disappears, and you’re suddenly a beginner again. In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast , Kerri describes the emotional and psychological whiplash of going from Director/VP/C...

Kerri Roberts, senior HR strategist and fractional CHRO, shares the strategic and psychological shifts she experienced leaving a Vice President of Operations role to build her consulting firm. After 20 years inside corporate systems — from 50 employees to 20,000 — she understood leadership, process, and performance. What she had to learn was entrepreneurial wiring. In this episode of Don’t Waste t...

Why does everything escalate to you as the leader — and what does that say about your leadership system? Senior leaders, founders, and CEOs often feel trapped reacting to nonstop questions, interruptions, and last-minute decisions. In this episode of Don’t Waste the Chaos , Kerri Roberts explores why constant escalation is not a workload problem — it’s a leadership system gap. If every question fe...

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast , Kerri Roberts — senior HR strategist, fractional CHRO, and podcast host — interviews Kelsey Thompson , entrepreneur and recovery advocate whose platform blends honest conversations about recovery with lifestyle, wellness, money, and ambition. Kelsey’s core message is simple and hard-won: your beginning doesn’t define your ending , but rebuildi...

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast , Kerri M. Roberts, senior HR strategist, fractional CHRO, and podcast host - dives into the leadership topic most executives think they’re strong in but often struggle to sustain: boundaries . Kerri reframes boundaries as responsible leadership, not harshness - because in real organizations, unclear boundaries don’t create warmth. They create c...

How do you lead when your team is waiting, and your silence is doing damage? In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast, Kerri M. Roberts unpacks why indecision is a decision, how stalled leadership quietly erodes trust, and why leadership infrastructure depends on clear boundaries, accountable authority, and timely action. This is for founders, CEOs, COOs, and executive leaders navigati...

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast , Kerri Roberts, business & HR consultant and podcast host, dives into the leadership clarity crisis showing up in organizations everywhere. When people don’t clearly understand what success looks like, teams drift, decision-making slows, and emotional health takes a hit. Kerri explains why clarity isn’t a “nice-to-have” soft skill - it’s th...

Are you carrying leadership weight you were never meant to hold? In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast , Kerri M. Roberts , leadership consultant and former executive, addresses a growing issue across organizations: leaders carrying far more mental and emotional weight than is sustainable. Drawing from over two decades in leadership and consulting, Kerri explores why burnout has bec...