With Small Business Saturday approaching, you’re probably thinking about different things you can do to help your business grow and thrive. To help, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite blogs (from some of our favorite bloggers) with advice on the most important aspects of running your small business.

Hiring and Recruiting

• How to Use Twitter for Recruiting (Undercover Recruiter)
  Twitter is rapidly becoming one of the most effective methods for recruiting top talent. Undercover Recruiter, along with Akken Cloud, put together a handy infographic to show you how to make the most of it—at no cost.
• Employee Retention Begins in the Interview Process (Talent Culture)
  Having an optimal interview process could be the key to improving your employee retention rate. Chances are, you are unwittingly committing certain interview faux pas that are turning potential (and current employees) off. Talent Culture points out what mistakes you should be looking for and how to fix them.
• Retention Matters to Talent Acquisition Teams (The Hiring Site)
  “Turnover” is often considered a forbidden word in the workplace. However, eliminating turnover is essential to growing your small business. The Hiring Site explains why turnover matters so much to talent acquisition teams, and how to eliminate the problem.

Mission and Culture

• How to Hire for a Cultural Fit (HR Capitalist)
  What does cultural and motivational fit really mean, and how can you train hiring managers to give great feedback on fit? The HR Capitalist shares her secrets for how to hire for a cultural fit.
• What Does Culture Look Like? (Steve Boese)
  Culture is the buzzword of the moment… but what does culture actually mean to your organization? Steve Boese shares what he learned at the recent HRevolution conference about how the right HR tech can help you define and reinforce your company’s culture.
• New for 2016: Organizational Microcultures (Tim Sackett)
  Perhaps lesser known is the concept of microcultures, or smaller cultures within the larger company, like different departments, locations, functions, etc. Tim Sackett explains how viewing culture with this bottom-up perspective will advance your company’s culture as a whole.

Compensation and Equity

• A Compensation Plan Where Everyone Earns More is… Stupid (A Fistful of Talent)
  While some companies are taking a “more for everyone!” approach to employee compensation, this might not be the best idea for your organization. RJ Morris discusses how merit-based compensation, rather than giving everyone an equal raise, is both fair and motivates employees to do their best work.
• You are Not Lebron James (or Facebook, or Google) (Compensation Cafe) Though giving everyone a Google-like salary might seem like a great way to attract the best talent and keep a high retention rate, this likely isn’t a good option for most small businesses. Performensation CEO Dan Walter shares how best to compensate your employees based on what they realistically deserve, and what you can realistically afford to pay.
• Understanding Employee Equity: Every Startup’s Secret Weapon (Forbes)
  The ability to give equity is one of the best weapons in a startup’s recruitment and retention arsenal. But actually discharging this weapon is more complicated than it might seem. Meghan Casserly helps you understand who should receive equity, when to grant it, and how it will serve your startup in the long run.

Employee Engagement and Productivity

• Strategic Support (Employee Resource Groups) (HRE Online)
  Providing support opportunities for groups of employees like women, LGBT, and minority employees, is becoming increasingly more common in the workplace, and could greatly benefit your organization. Sheryl Nance-Nash discusses how these groups (often called employee resource groups or affinity groups) encourage a diverse workforce and creates an inclusive environment for your team.
• 10 Performance Management Tips for the First-Time Supervisor (HR Bartender)
  Formal performance reviews are being disregarded by more and more companies as of late. However, Sharyln Lauby shares her advice on how to transform performance reviews from a simple formality into an effective tool for employee management—particularly if you’re doing it for the first time.
• To Improve Engagement, More Leaders Will Need To Truly Embrace Engagement (ERE Media)
  Employee engagement is not simply a task for HR managers—it’s up to company leaders need to prioritize engagement and show their commitment through leading by example. Ron Thomas explains how true employee engagement comes from the top down.

Collaboration, Communication and Meetings

• Engaging Top Talent: Using Consumer Tools for Collaboration (Talent Culture)
  Many businesses are taking advantage of advancing technology for workplace communication, but employees’ preferred tech tools might not be what you think. Discover from Meghan M. Biro why employees prefer using consumer rather than enterprise apps to communicate in the workplace.
• Technology During Meetings: How to Handle (HR Bartender)
  Technology in the workplace is a double-edged sword: while it offers more ways to communicate within teams, it can also cause major complications. Sharlyn Lauby shares her tips for how to approach technology use during team meetings to minimize distraction and maximize productivity.
• Collaboration: Working Smarter, not Harder (Robin Schooling)
  Team collaboration isn’t entirely up to your team members; they need a solid system to work with first. Robin Schooling discusses how it takes thoughtful planning on the part of leadership to create a framework for effective collaboration among employees.

Location and Distributed Teams

• How to Manage Remote Direct Reports (Harvard Business Review)
  Building trust and open communication are the keys to effective teamwork, but how do you accomplish this when your team isn’t physically in one location? Rebecca Knight gives some tips on how to most efficiently manage distributed employees.
• 7 Best Practice Tips for Working Remotely (Fast Company)
  There’s a lot of advice out there for how to manage distributed employees… but what do you do when you’re the one working offsite? Maren Kate Donovan shares her advice for how to best connect with your team while you’re working remotely.
• 4 Effective Ways to Manage a Remote Team (Entrepreneur)
  Effectively leading a distributed team is dependent on a solid structure. So how do you make it happen without all team members present? Deborah Mitchell reveals her secrets for how to create structure when managing a remote team.

Love these tips? Get more advice on growing your business in The Executive Guide to Growing Your Business.

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