Monthly Archives: March 2012

#21 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

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For the background of this list – see my post from 2-10-12.

The #21 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style comes from the Beastie Boys – Johnny Ryall off their 1989 Paul’s Boutique LP:

“Elvis shaved his head when he went into the Army.”

Johnny Ryall (Click on link to take you to the You Tube video)

Love the Beastie’s!  This quote towards the end of the song reminds me of how so many of our employees that we hire with such high hopes, fail, because we/they made decisions not to fit into the culture.   Elvis was the King of Rock and Roll and he probably could have talked the Armed Forces into just about anything, because of the amount of positive press they would receive with someone like him demonstrating a positive experience of going into the service.  Instead he sat down in the chair and had them shave off his famous hair.

Sometimes when you go into a new company you need to shave off your hair!   “But, Tim, I’m an individual and I like my hair long! No way I’m shaving it off!”  Fine – just don’t work here.  If you don’t want to fit into the culture -don’t – go someplace else where the culture will embrace your long hair (by the way this post isn’t about long hair – I’m sure most of you get that – but some won’t!).   The best employees come in and make efforts to fit into the culture that is established, they don’t come in and try to change the culture.  One of my HR mentors once told me, “Tim, culture always wins.”   You can change out every single person in a department over time, and come back a year later and that department will have the same culture it had before any of those people were there.

Don’t hang on to employees who are working against your culture – it never ends well – you’re frustrated, they’re frustrated – move on.  You might not have the best culture, but one employee, working against your average culture, isn’t going to make it better – it’s going to make it worse.  Fit in first, then work within the culture to make it better.

Culture always wins.  Shave your head.

 

 

Moving Out A “Legend” Employee

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The Indianapolis Colts decided yesterday to part ways with their All-Pro, MVP, Future Hall of Fame Quarterback, Peyton Manning (BTW my wife loves him! My sons and I call him, her boyfriend).  Here are some of Peyton’s accomplishments while in Indianapolis from ESPN:

-Manning killed it on “Saturday Night Live” (“I just thought about going out there for the second half, and a little bit of pee came out.”)

-Manning reported to the Giants Stadium interview room wearing a suit and tie — and no shoes or socks — after a night-game win against his brother Eli. He did it (and I was there) because he knew the East Coast sports writers were on a crushing deadline.

-Manning led the Colts to a pair of Super Bowls and won one.

-Manning engineered a comeback for the ages: down 21 points at Tampa Bay with four minutes left, and won the game in OT!

-Manning never made TMZ’s greatest hits.

-Manning prepared so thoroughly that he could have double-dipped as a coach.

-Manning had 63 games with at least 300 passing yards.

-Manning was proud of playing in Indianapolis.

Why did they do this (you might be asking yourself if you don’t follow NFL football)?  Peyton got injured last year (neck), had major surgery, no one will know if he’ll ever be the same.  He was due $28M if they kept him on the roster as of yesterday. And, oh by the way, they have the #1 pick in this year’s NFL draft that has at least one “can’t-miss” future Hall of Fame Quarterback.  Some pretty good reasons, from a business standpoint.

But, you know what? It sucks!

It might be the right business decision – but it definitely isn’t the right people decision. Or is it?  This is what we do in HR, right?  We are constantly balancing business decisions and people decisions.  The Indianapolis Colts will move on. Peyton will move on. But it sucks that they broke up the band!  If the life cycle of an organization.   Even your best most trusted employees will eventually leave – retirement, death, new opportunity – name your poison.   It’s HR’s job to help the organization move on in a positive light, even when it’s so dark you don’t think there is any light.

The Indianapolis Colts did what was right for their franchise.  Star employee at the end of their career – potential to pick up new start employee at the beginning of their career.  It isn’t about one person – it’s about all the people in the organization – and that makes it a tough decision, but an easy decision.  We usually try and cover this up in the real world by throwing an unwanted retirement party and giving out a nice plaque for all their service, only to find out 4 weeks later the person is back to work at our competitors and stealing our clients!  The Colts will feel some of this as well – when Peyton goes and plays for another team and does well.  It won’t make their decision wrong – it just makes it harder to swallow.

Like Winnie the Pooh said: “Don’t cry because it’s over – Smile because it happened”

 

You Don’t Want a HR Social Media Position

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Do you know how many times in the past 12 months I’ve heard someone say – “I’m looking for a social media position”?  Enough to know that we don’t need that many Social Media HR people!

Let me give some HR job seekers a little tip – You don’t want a position in HR that is created around social media!   This is a dead-end HR job.  (Oh boy, as I just wrote that I could hear people that I know losing their f’ing minds!)  Take a minute and let yourself really think about it, before you respond.   Social Media is sexy and fun, and you can add some value to your organization, and even some to HR – but if you really want to be in HR – taking the path of social media isn’t going to move you up in HR.   I run into too many HR Social Media folks who have really no clue about HR – but they LOVE their jobs.  Many of these folks seem to be out of those jobs very quickly – job after job after job.

You see it doesn’t take an organization long to understand that social media isn’t a position – it’s a tool.  A tool that can be used by everyone in HR, without a ton of effort, once you get the train going down the tracks.  That’s why you see HR Social Media positions crop up, then get cut in a 6th month window.  Organizations want results, they want to measure productivity – and while social media has a ton of things you can measure – it’s really hard for a HR Social Media Pro to prove their value.

“But Tim – I LOVE social media and HR – what am I suppose to do?”  Employment Branding is probably the best fit.  But you need more than social media chops for this – you need some marketing chops, some creativity, some business sense and networking ability to make this work.  Employment branding isn’t building a facebook page and using the term “Talent Community” in every meeting you attend.  It’s your ability to share your organizations story, while at the same time not losing the look and feel of what your actual brand is – that’s much harder than it looks!    You can be this highly conservative established brand, and try and sell your employment brand is young hip come-as-you-are party – it’s not authentic and it will fail.  Thus, you have to find a way to share the value and positives of what you actually do have.  I know so many employment branding folks who fail, for the simple fact that they “try” to establish an employment brand, this isn’t their brand.  “But we want a cool brand like Google!”  Well, you’re not Google – you’re GM – you’ll never be Google – but you have some cool stuff of your own – share that.

Look I get it – Social Media is exciting and sexy – but don’t confuse that with your ability to create a career path using it.  There are about 15 people in the world that have been able to do that, for longer than 6 months, and there are about 500,000 HR positions.  Love Social Media in HR, just don’t LOVE it.  Integrate the tools, have real HR chops – look to last past 6 months.

 

What would it take to get you to work 80 hours per week?

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I’ve interviewed a ton of people in my career.  When I ask people what their normal work week looks like – I “often” hear – “Oh, I work 70-80 hrs per week, all the time!”   I instantly know they are lying – because no one works 80 hours per week all the time!  Do you really know what 80 hours per week looks like? Here’s some examples”

  • 16 hours per day – Monday thru Friday – that’s coming in at 6am and not leaving until 10pm – EVERY day.

or

  • 12 hours per day Monday thru Saturday with an EASY 8 on Sunday.

or

  • Oh, and by the way, the two above examples must be with paid lunches and breaks.

Liars.

The only way you work 80 hours per week is if you own the place. How much would I have to pay you to work 80 hours per week?  Would you do it for $10,000 per week? $520K per year?  No you wouldn’t – you would quit after a month or two – now you’re lying to yourself.  Heck – most owners aren’t even willing to work 80 hours per week.  That’s why so many small businesses fail – people underestimate how much it takes to make a business successful!

“Oh, I would work 80 hours per week if I LOVED what I did.”   Really?  You think you would still LOVE it after working 80 hours per week, week after week, month after month, year after year?  I think it’s incredibly awesome when I meet someone who I truly see Loves their job – you know the type – even if they weren’t getting paid, they would be doing what they’re doing.  Unfortunately 99.9% of us aren’t in a position where we can “work” for free – no matter how much we Love it.  We have bills, responsibilities – we don’t have daddy or a spouse paying our way – we have real life.

80 hours per week – now you’re thinking about it, right?  It’s a lot of time to put forth for one part of your life.  How do you get your grocery shopping done? Watch your kids play at school? Get the cat to the vet? Get your haircut? Get your teeth cleaned?  See your therapist?!

As HR Pros we put so much time, effort and thought into building our rewards and recognition systems.  Many of us think we do this so we can get our employees to give us that extra discretionary effort – to work those hours over 40.  To get our employees to want to work 80 hours per week.  Unfortunately, most of us have rewards and recognition to just get our people to do the job they were hired for – not extra.   When this happens – you no longer have a rewards and recognition system – this now becomes part of their full compensation package.  Rewards and Recognition shouldn’t be put in place “to get the job done” – it should be put in place to reward and recognize those who do more.

I know what you’re thinking – “Tim if I could just have a rewards and recognition system that would get my employees to actually work 40 hours, I’d be happy! 80! You’re out of your mind!”  Believe me, I understand, but that’s what we do, or should be doing for our organizations.  Get great talent, keep great talent, find ways to get that great talent to give us everything they’ve got =’s great HR Pro.

So, what would it take to get you to work 80 hours per week?

 

 

 

Bad is Stronger than Good

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I spoke at the inaugural TLNT Transform event last week in Austin – my topic was – What Your CEO Wished HR Would Do.  One thing that came up during my presentation was a conversation around “Must Do Moves”.  Must do moves are those things in your organization that you grab a hold of, as an HR Pro, and make sure they happen.  I asked the group a question:

Do you have anyone in your organization that you need to get rid of?

 

100% – all hands raised – Yes!  If you work in an organization that has a decent size – let’s say 100+, you almost always have a least one or two folks you would be better without. (for the record – my staff is less than 100, and I don’t have anyone I need to get rid of – they all rock! Don’t hate, I just follow my own advice!)  As HR Pros we hear about this in meetings with your executives and hiring managers – “Oh, if we could only replace John, we would be so much better!”   My point to the HR Pros in the audience is this is a value item that we can own in our organizations.  Must do moves – especially those that make our organizations stronger, need champions.  When it comes to staff moves – we are that champion.

What we realize, but many of our hiring managers fail to realize, is that Bad is Stronger than Good, when it comes to employees.  We hear all the time “Addition through Subtraction”, and yet we struggle in our organizations to make this happen.   Most likely this happens in your organization because you are trying to make your hiring managers, manage, and have them make this decision.  When in reality they have made the decision – they told you.  They hate conflict, even more than you do, and this was their cry for help.  Take it – run with it – make it happen.  It’s the one thing in HR we are all good at – process and planning.  Put a plan together to get rid of your Bad and make it happen.

I didn’t just say – go fire.  That’s not a plan. Well, it is a plan, but not a very good one.  I said make a plan to get rid of the bad.  That means working with the hiring manager to determine timing, back-fill options, sourcing, recruiting, progressive discipline – all that good stuff – but make it happen.  Really – make it happen.  Executives like doers!  They like doers that get rid of Bad in our organizations.  We own the Bad people in our organizations.  Any time you have a Bad person in your organization – you need to take on the persona – this Bad person is my fault, and I’m taking care of it.  Bad is Stronger than Good – you have to fight hard against Bad.

Want to look and be better in HR – own Must Do Moves in your organization.

Want me to come and tell you what other things your CEO wants HR to do?  Contact me – I’m cheap – not free – but cheap.

#22 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

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For the background of this list – see my post from 2-10-12.

The #23 Rap Lyric that shaped my leadership style comes from Jay-Z’s Blueprint 2:

“When the grass is cut, the snacks will show.”

Over the past 3 or 4 years this has been really true in organizations.   As you become lean, as you begin to make cuts that really hurt, you will see those in your organization that are there because they want to be, and those who are there because they have no other choice.   I like to surround myself with people who want to be on this boat with me, who will keep bailing water even when it looks like it’s no use.  Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want them to do it in a naive way – like they can’t see what’s really going on.  I just want people who believe in the same vision that I have.  It’s the only way your organization will truly move forward – belief.

The one thing that hard times bring us, is that organizations get a unique and rare chance to really see who those people are in their companies.  It can be a very cleansing experience – addition through subtraction – that you didn’t even know you needed.   Too many times we are so close to what is going on we have a hard time seeing the forest through all these trees.  My wife watches the Bachelor and all too often, we can see the snack, yet, the Bachelor can’t (my says this is because he’s a man, and stupid – I tend to think it’s difficult to see the truth when so many people are trying to “win” you over – but she’s probably right though!).

Loyalty is a tricky thing to measure in an organization – until you don’t have it.