Category Archives: Leadership

Recruitment Marketing Isn’t About Automation

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Look, I love everything Recruitment Marketing (RM). It takes two things I’m very passionate about Recruiting and Marketing and puts them both together. I love the creativity and science behind how do you get someone interested in some thing, more specifically how do we get a person interested in coming to work for us.

Recruitment Marketing technology is pretty freaking awesome! I love it as well. But, great RM isn’t about automation. Great RM is about what originally attracts us to anything.

Great RM boils down to only two things:

1. Do you want me?

2. You don’t want me.

I like to think about RM in dating terms. I’ve been married for twenty-five years so my dating references are a bit dated, but I now have sons who are dating so I get a new perspective.

When you like someone a couple of things could happen. One, they like you in return. This could be great for some, but a turn off for some as well. There are two specific things that happen when we date. We want to be wanted and we want to be pursued. So, the second is they don’t like you, and you don’t know why.

Let me give you an example from my own career. I always have wanted to work at Nike. I love their products. I love their brand. I would have been the best employee Nike ever hired! They didn’t want me. That made me want that job even more. Working at Nike is a tough gig to get, which is part of the reason I wanted it.

I did get offers from other organizations that were also great brands. Target was one who offered and pursued hard. Even tried to get me after I turned them down and went to work for Applebee’s. Sent a gift basket to my house before Christmas, 6 weeks after I already started working for Applebees. It felt really, really good to be pursued and wanted by another!

Most of us do the pursuing. If you’re extremely lucky in talent acquisition you have a brand that allows you to be pursued. There aren’t many of these organizations that are wildly pursued by almost everyone. Google, Facebook, Nike, etc. But, we all have a small group of folks who love our brand and organization for whatever reason.

We tend to discount these folks, especially if we have questionable employment brand, to begin with! Why would Charlie want to work here so bad!? Something must be wrong with him! That’s where most TA organizations fail.

If you have Nike’s brand you never question ‘why’ someone wants to work for Nike. It’s Nike! Everyone wants to work for us. If you’re ABC Manufacturing in Wildwood, NJ you question why anyone wants to work for you. It’s crazy, right!? It’s the exact same scenario, one positive, one negative.

All of this has nothing to do with the RM platform you choose. This is about the culture you allow on your TA team. You might not be Nike, but it doesn’t mean you’re not a great opportunity for someone. Leave that up to the person to decide, don’t decide for them!

 

Should You Fire Your White Supremacist Employees?

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Oh, boy, this is a hot one! I thought about not evening addressing this, for like twenty seconds!

It was all over the news this past weekend when Cole White decided to travel from California to Charlottesville, VA to support a white supremacist march, that had a tragic outcome to some opposing the group White supported. Some Twitter accounts began almost immediately posting pictures of the white supremacist looking for help in discovering the identity of their supporters.

Why? Once you find who a white supremacist is, it’s fairly easy to destroy them on social media and in real life! The hot dog restaurant that Cole White worked for in California, Top Dog, LLC. (I can’t make this up), fired him as soon as they found out what he was participating in. He wasn’t fired for performance, he was fired because of the backlash of him being associated with this business.

Basically, Twitter won. Either you fire him, or we’ll make sure no one feels comfortable eating in your establishment, forever!

Is that legal? Can you fire someone over their political views? Well, yes! Okay, not if you work within the Federal Government, there are laws, for good reason, to protect workers who have differing political views. Although I would argue that Cole White doesn’t have a ‘differing’ political view, he is more of a terrorist, then some right wing nut job who doesn’t want to pay taxes!

Here’s the legal aspect of him being fired (from The Atlantic):

In many cases, firing someone for their political ideas raises few legal issues. Though public-sector workers can’t be terminated for their political views, and many union contracts require that an employer demonstrate “just cause” for firing someone, federal law doesn’t offer any protections for expressing political views or participating in political activities for those who work in the private sector and don’t have a contract stating otherwise, according to Katherine Stone, a law professor at UCLA who focuses on labor law. (There are a few caveats for those in states or municipalities with laws that go beyond the federal mandate.) But more to the point, Stone says, it’s not at all uncommon—or illegal—for private-sector workers to get fired for what they do in their free time if it reflects poorly on their employer. In cases such as this, an employer in the private sector simply isn’t required to employ someone who exercises their right to free speech, Stone says.

Here’s the money quote:

“it’s not at all uncommon—or illegal—for private-sector workers to get fired for what they do in their free time if it reflects poorly on their employer”

Should you fire white supremacist employees? Yes. Does this set precedence? Yes. Will an employee try and use this against you the next time they feel uncomfortable with something another employee does they don’t agree with? Yes.

It doesn’t matter. You do the right thing, at the right time, in the circumstances you have. Then, you worry about the next time, the next time. White supremacy and hate speech are not something you need in your workplace, ever. We aren’t talking differing political views of normal Democrats and Republicans. Some of my best friends have differing views on tax reform, healthcare, etc. I still love them and want the best for them. That’s normal, hate speech is not normal.

Understand that firing these employees just throws them back out into the wild. It doesn’t make it, or them, go away. Some will argue, and rightly so, that it’s best not to fire these employees because it gives you an opportunity to educate them, to help make them better. That’s truly being inclusive. I don’t agree or understand your hatred, but you are apart of this organization. We made a decision to bring you on. So, maybe we should try and help from the inside.

Will it work? Most likely, no. But it might. It might change one person. It’s a start.

I was married by a Jewish Cantor in a Temple in Lincoln, NE. This Jewish Cantor took in a white supremacist into his home who was unable to care for himself any longer. The Cantor was able to help this person see that the people this white supremacist hated the most were willing to care for and help him in his time of n d, when ‘his’ people were not. Cantor changed one man, not the world. But maybe this is how we change the world, one person at a time.

 

Do you and your HR Team have High HR Self Esteem?

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I was talking to an HR Pro recently and it struck me how negative they were about their organization and their HR shop in general!  Don’t think this is going to be one of those blog posts about if you don’t like your job you should quit and follow your passion.  I don’t believe in that bullshit, that’s how people lose their homes and their families.  They get stupid.

This is for my brothers and sisters who are running HR shops.  You need to fire those folks. Really, I mean it.  Get up from your desk, walk out to their desk and tell them they can go home — forever.

It’s one thing to have a bad day, it’s a completely another thing to have a bad career!  You know exactly who I’m talking about.  You see them every day.  It’s like watching Eeyore on steroids.

I try and figure folks out.  I love asking, “Why you so mad?” Which just usually just makes them madder, but it’s fun to ask.  I have high HR self-esteem.  I like what I do.  I like what we do in HR.  I truly believe that an HR shop in any organization can be the most valuable part of that organization if they have the right folks running it.

Folks like me, with high HR self-esteem.  Folks who don’t believe the bad press HR gets.  Folks who don’t believe the haters.  Folks who at their core, understand how attracting, finding and keeping the best talent in your industry is a true game changer.

It’s alright by me that operations, finance, marketing, etc. all think the same thing. They all think they’re the most important part of the organization. That’s okay. I know.  I know we (HR) are! Knowing this allows me to let them believe their little fairy tale because I know it’s important to keep them happy.  So, I let them believe.  Don’t tell them, please.  ‘Belief’ is important for their continued satisfaction.

I’ll take the blame for when a bad leader turnovers another hire.  I’ll throw myself on the sword when communicating out another policy change made by executives, but one in which they’ll gladly give me ‘credit’.  I’ll let marketing take credit for the major sales increase, when I know it was my talent find that brought on the winning strategy for our organization.  I’ll let finance take credit for millions of dollars in ‘savings’ when I know it was the changes to our work structure that allowed us to make those savings.

Having high HR self-esteem does that.

I only ask one thing from my fellow HR leaders.  The next time you make a hire in your HR shop, please make sure that person has high HR self-esteem.  I can’t take any more HR pros who don’t like what they do.

What Would You Ask For If Your Workplace Went Union?

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If you didn’t see it last week a Nissan automotive plant in Mississippi went through a union vote deciding on whether the 6,000 workers at the plant wanted to represented by the UAW. It’s 2017, right? Is it just me or does it seem strange that we are still having union votes?

Here’s what the Nissan workers who support the union vote say they are looking for:

“Union supporters complain that the company has been stingy with benefits and bonuses, that workers on the production line are pressured to sacrifice safety to keep the line moving briskly, and that supervisors arbitrarily change policies about discipline and attendance.”

So, basically:

  • Pay
  • Benefits
  • Retirement
  • Safety

The UAW is trying to make this out about race. Be careful thinking this is the real issue. When you have a predominantly diverse workforce it’s an easy tactic to use to drum up votes. This is about the UAW increasing membership, period. They could care less about race issues, pay issues, or safety issues, just come ask all the out of work former UAW members in Flint! The UAW would try and unionize a girl scout troop if it increased their coffers.

Have you been in a modern day automotive plant? You could eat off the floors. There are so many safety precautions in place you would have to be blind to put yourself in harm’s way. The average UAW employee makes twice the average salary of an American worker. These workers don’t need a union, they need a reality check.

This got me thinking though of what I might ask for if my company decided to go union. Or, what would any of us in a modern society ask for from a union? The reality is in today’s world with the current competitive talent landscape there really isn’t much a union can offer. Pay and benefits are pretty competitive, pensions are no longer viable with current life expectancies, and laws are in place to protect workers from most safety issues.

Here’s what I think most people would want from a modern union:

– Flexibility in working hours. Not work from home, although in many cases that could be argued, but the ability to be treated as an adult when it comes to my schedule and getting my work done. It’s not too much to ask to allow me to drop my kids at school at 8 am then come into work by 8:30 am. Just because you want everyone at the office by 8 am, doesn’t mean it has to be that way. That’s just silly. Not all of your employees are living the same life.

– Different Financial Benefit Options for Time in Life. A college graduate with student debt needs different financial benefits than your employees who are ten years away from retirement. A recently married employee looking to buy a house has different financial needs than the employee having his first kid go off to college. Having one company 401K match no longer makes sense to all of your employees.

– Diet Mt. Dew Fountain Machine. Unions are stupid so I might as well ask for stupid stuff! If you want to represent me, you better install a Diet Mt. Dew fountain machine in the break room or will not get my vote and union dues. I’m paying you $17.63 out of every check for what? No, Diet Dew?! That’s not happening!

– College Education or Free Skill Training for my Kids. Oh, wait, now I’m listening. Don’t you think if unions are truly invested in their members that they should be able to invest the dues and make this happen? We’re talking billions of dollars per year paid in union dues across America, for a very little amount of negotiating every few years. If you can guarantee my kids a college education or to learn a trade, now you’re earning your keep!

What would you ask from a union in today’s world?

 

DisruptHR Detroit Speakers Announced!

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Detroit HR and TA Disruptors!!!

A month ago we announced that DisruptHR was coming to Detroit and asked for speaker submissions! Today we are happy to announce the 12 individuals who were chosen to speak from an outstanding group of submissions!

The event is September 27th at 6 pm in Detroit at the Garden Theater! REGISTER TODAY!

Here are the first ever DisruptHR Detroit event speakers (in alphabetical order):

Susan Bailey – “Go Ahead…Don’t Take Care of Your Employees and See What Happens”

Jasmine Burns – “Who Said Sales and Recruiting Aren’t the Same Things”

Shenandoah Chefalo – “Building a Resilient Workforce”

Rita Fields – “When Your Emperor Has No Clothes: Staying Motivated When You Work for a Jackass!”

Travis Furlow – “Paperclip Thinking: How many ways can we…”

Christie Hecht – “Confessions of a Millennial”

Nicholas Larche – “Your Employer Knows Where You Are, How You Shop, & Has Seen You Naked!”

Steve Lowisz – “The Drift & Shift”

Greg Modd – “No Excuses, Just Results”

James Reid – “HR from a Legal Perspective: Stories better than fiction”

Susun West – “Stop the Havoc!”

Patrick Wright – “True Intelligence vs. Artificial Intelligence”

I’ll be your host and Emcee for the evening, so you can expect tasteless jokes and hugs!

Also, we have some very generous sponsors and we’ll have prize giveaways, food and drinks all night. The Garden Theater is a wonder location right in the heart of midtown with attached parking.

Come support the speakers and become a part of the revolution that is pushing the envelope in HR and TA across the world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2017 Michigan Recruiter’s Conference is October 25th in Detroit!

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That’s right gang! We’re back and better than ever!

The 2017 Michigan Recruiter’s Conference will take place on Wednesday, October 25th from 9 am to 4 pm in downtown Detroit onsite at our wonderful corporate host Quicken Loans!

Registration is now open – the cost of this event is $69 per person. This is a corporate talent acquisition event, no agency or third party recruiting pros will be allowed to register. It’s not that we don’t love you all, it’s that this is a development event, not a come pimp us with your services event.

Space will be limited, so please register early if you want a seat. You can transfer registration to another person on your team if plans change.

Who’s on the Agenda I hear you asking yourself! Oh, boy did I hit a few home runs this year!!!

SPEAKERS:

Carmen Hudson, Principle Consultant at Recruiting Toolbox, and Co-Founder of Talent42

Shaunda Zilich, Employment Brand Leader at GE

Will Maurer, Global Talent Acquisition, Sourcing Manager, General Motors

Holly Fawcett, Curriculum Development Manager at Social Talent

Margie Elsesser, VP of Talent Brand & Strategy at Quicken Loans 

Mike Bailen, VP of People at Lever and former Head of Talent for Zappos

Killed it, right?!?!

ERE, SHRM, and TEDx wished they had this line up coming to their events!

Thank you to our sponsors for making this happen – Lever and Quicken Loans.  We could not offer this at such a low price without their financial assistance and support! So, support them!

Can’t wait to see you all in Downtown Detroit! Bringing it to the D!

 

 

 

 

I Hate Lists! But Less When I’m On Them…Sackett’s Top HR & TA Influencers of All Time!

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It seems like there are fewer lists out recently as content. Five years ago lists as content were huge! It was the go-to content for every crappy content marketing professional in HR and TA technology. Why? Because they get traffic! People like to see their names on lists, or not see their names on lists and wonder why “he” is on the list and I’m not on the list.

Recently, Engagedly came out with the ‘Top’ 100 HR Influencers of 2017. The list is alphabetical but it also has numbers, so it looks like Uncle Lou Adler is #1 on the most influential list of HR pros for 2017. I’m number 77. Stacey Zapar is #99. Kris Dunn is #26. If you know the alphabet you can almost play a game guessing what number you might be! (Editor question – if it’s not ranked, why put numbers on it?)

So, anyway, I hate these lists, but I hate them less when I’m on them because, well, I’m human. It feels nice that someone thinks you might know something about something and put your name on a list of other people you probably think are smart. The problem with most lists, like this, are that the person putting them together probably hasn’t met or spoken to 97% of the people they’re putting on the list.

The Engagedly list added a ton of ‘influential’ HR people I’ve truly had never heard of! Most are heads of HR for giant Fortune 100 type companies. I’ll say that’s smart. If you want to sell your product to an enterprise buyer, butter up the heads of HR at big companies and tell them how smart and influential they are. That’s just good business!

The problem is ‘these’ people, for the most part, really aren’t influential. Big giant HR is usually vanilla. They use big giant vanilla technology and they do things that are safe. That’s not really influence, is it?

Outgoing SHRM CEO Hank Jackson is on the list. Hank definitely has some influence in HR, but he’s also retiring in December, wouldn’t Johnny Taylor, the incoming CEO, be a better selection? Penelope Trunk is on the list. Has Penelope done anything in HR in the past decade? She recently said she was sick of her own advice! That seems influential.

William Tincup, my friend, and a super smart guy is on the list. He’s also on the board of Engagedly. Shocking he made the list…

Like I said, I hate lists, because what I did above is what everyone does when they see these lists. No one is like, “Oh. My. God. Thank you for this list! I had no idea who I should listen to in this space!”

Okay, I’ll stop being a dick. The criteria I would use for a list would be something like: People I have had dinner with and I would pay; People that have taught me something in HR and/or TA and/or Life; People I’ve hugged because I like them, not because I felt like I had to; People I think are smarter than me; People that get it.

Here’s my list of Sackett’s Most Influential HR/TA People of All Time (also the best dinner party ever or the most dysfunctional family get together of all time, and every single person on this list I’ve met in person and probably hugged!):

– Celinda Appleby – Employment Brand expert at Nike, an Awesome smart lady with some sass! 

– Jason Averbook – HR and TA Tech genius, one of the best presenters in the world, first person I forgot to add to this list!

– Chris Bailey – CaymanHRGuy is his claim to fame, but he might be the best person in HR period. Smart, fun, giant heart.

– John Baldino – My HR guy on the East Coast, Smart, Caring, Just good people!

– Kassandra Barnes – HR technology marketing leader, sassy, smart, always open to trying new things.

– Michelle Berg – HR Executive and consultant out of Canada, super involved in HR community, hustler to the n’th degree.

– Josh Bersin – Everyone knows Josh, some dislike him, some love him. I like how he thinks.

– Steve Boese – Mr. HR Tech, #8ManRotation, One of the nicest guys you’ll meet in HR and he really knows his stuff!

– Bill Boorman – The most connected HR/TA guy in the world and always willing to go for a drink. Super kind, super smart.

– Sarah Brennan – One of the most underrated HR/TA Tech minds on the planet, expert home flipper, awesome person.

– Terryl Bronson – Trench TA Leader, my friend from my days at the Bee’s, always willing to help others, world class stick man.

– Steve Browne – Mr. SHRM, nicest guy in HR. The most positive, uplifting HR leader you’ll ever meet.

–  Dawn Burke – HR Leader who flat out gets it, funny, high energy, one of my closest friends in HR, she’s just good people.

– Heather Bussing – The one employment attorney on the list, which means she is my go to for all this stuff, and a damn good writer!

– Johnny Campbell – Ninja. Always looking to move forward. Pushing the envelope of recruiting worldwide. Charismatic.

– Teresa Carper – My VP of HR in my own shop at HRU. Super stud, won’t be outworked, ferociously loyal, brilliant.

– Glen Cathey – Boolean Black Belt Dude. The smartest guy in sourcing you’ll meet who doesn’t believe he’s the smartest.

– Lis Cervenka – Employer branding expert, TA tech executive, great marketing mind, respect the hustle.

– Matt Charney – Brilliant writer, sharp wit, wickedly funny, gets the game better than almost anyone in the industry.

– Joel Cheesman – One of the few ‘experts’ I listen to, truly knows his stuff and isn’t afraid to let you know it.

– Jackye Clayton – Awesome HR/TA Tech knowledge, a better person, funny, my sister from another mister.

– Graeme Close – Professor, best and most interesting wellness speaker on the planet, Nutrition consultant to Olympians & professional athletes.

– Connie Costigan – C.C.! One of the top HR tech marketing and communication executives on the planet, and just a great person.

– Gerry Crispin – The Godfather of Candidate Experience and TA, who I hope to become when I grow up. Life long learner.

– Amy Cropper – Quietly one of the smartest TA minds in the room who doesn’t feel the need to throw it in your face.

– Jim D’Amico – My partner in the Michigan Recruiter’s Conference, passionate TA leader, awesome person, brilliantly funny.

– Paul DeBettignies – Kindest, hardest working TA pro on the planet, always willing to get involved and help, gets recruiting at another level.

– Mervyn Dinnen – Super smart HR writer/blogger out of the UK, always asks the right questions to make you think.

– Kelly Dingee – Sourcing expert to the stars. Kelly can break down sourcing for the masses like no other person in the industry.

– Jim Durbin – Get recruiting and finding talent at a completely different level than 99.9% of the world and can show you how.

– Holland Dombeck-McCue – The Kid! Recruitment marketing genius, under the radar, oh, the places she will go!

– Kris Dunn – The OG, my ride or die, simply the single best HR/TA blogger on the planet and my best friend. #8ManRotation

– Ben Eubanks – The analyst from Alabama, and the nicest HR analyst you’ll ever meet! Smart, hardworking, always willing to share.

– Mary Faulkner – HR leader who is always on and willing to get involved, takes no prisoners and one of the few willing to tell it like it is.

– Craig Fisher – Employment brand expert, good people, respects the hustle. Gives back to our community constantly.

– Melany Gallant – HR Tech content marketing guru who is unafraid to try new stuff, which makes her stuff industry leading.

– Joe Gerstandt – Freak flag flier, one of the top D&I speakers/minds on the planet, someone most of us would aspire to be.

– Jamie Gilpin – HR and TA tech marketing executive, started most of the stuff others are doing right now, awesome lady.

– China Gorman – Great leader, period, gets the HR industry better than most, she’s the boss you wish you had.

– Ben Gotkin – Co-founder of ATAP, super passionate TA pro willing to work behind the passion.

– Shane Gray – Tireless advocate for TA worldwide, always willing to help and has outstanding ideas. Hustle times infinity.

– Kevin Grossman – Mr. Candidate Experience, gets HR marketing at a different level than all of us. Super nice dude.

– Chris Harvilla – Super brilliant TA Tech mind and leader, could run any TA shop in the world better than you’re doing it right now.

– Lance Haun – Kind, wicked funny, always helpful, truly understands the industry and how to help make it better. #8ManRotation

– Michael Heller – HR Tech CEO, grinder, an executive who truly works to understand the practitioner’s pain, and that’s rare! He’s good people.

– Maren Hogan – Marketing expert, hustles her ass off, a brilliant writer, so helpful. Never leave your credit card with her. 😉

– Paul Hebert – No one gets recognition, incentives, and employee engagement better than this man. Plus, he’s an awesome hang.

– Chris Hoyt – The recruiting guy, loved by all including my wife who is super hard to win over! I love talking shop with Chris.

– Carmen Hudson – One of the smartest TA consultants you’ll ever meet, has always shared her time with me, Talent42 Co-founder.

– John Hudson – He ran HR for Oprah, fools! Drop mic. Truly an awesome guy, always willing to help, great HR mind.

– Teela Jackson – Recruiting leader out of the ATL, true pro, super funny, gets recruiting at another level.

– Linda Jonas – An Aussie, living in Berlin, who just works tirelessly within the industry. Respect her hustle and willingness to always ask questions to make both sides smarter.

– Matt Jones – Recruiting leader who is an expert in the game, gives back constantly, great positive energy, closer.

– Charlie Judy – HR leader/expert who gives back to the industry constantly, gets workplace culture at a completely different level.

– Micole Kaye – Influencer marketing expert, a millennial who acts like a Gen-X, super high ceiling because she’s unafraid.

– Katrina Kibben – Employer branding, marketing pro, writer, involved. Someone who is always willing to help and give back to the community.

– Kyle Lagunas – My favorite TA/HR analyst, wicked funny, fabulous, will poke fun at his own industry, smart.

– George LaRocque – Always knows where the money is, constantly letting the industry know stuff before anyone else, I listen to him.

– Sharlyn Lauby – The vast HR community loves the HR bartender and so do I, straight talk in a way that doesn’t talk down, she writes for those HR pros in the trenches.

– Madeline Laurano – In a world of puff out your chest analyst, Madeline is a pros-pro who quietly knows more than 90% of the room. Flat out produces great research.

– Jason Lauritsen – Super HR leader, better guy, truly wants to see you be a better you. One of my favorite people in the industry.

– Jessica Lee – The most talented young TA leader on the planet, period. Brilliant mind. Tireless worker. Great spirit.

– Tony Lee – Working constantly to evolve SHRM from the inside, awesome guy, always working to make his business better.

– Steve Levy – Polarizing TA genius who will tell you exactly like it is, even if you don’t want to hear it. Truly knows his stuff.

– Roy Maurer – Expert writer in our space, not a hack blogger like me, kind, giving, always willing to help hacks like me get better.

– Jennifer McClure – The one HR speaker everyone wants to hear and see, self-made, constantly improving, such a good person. Knows what she talks about.

– Trish McFarlane – No one in HR in the past decade has come farther in their career. HR leader, analyst, HR Tech executive.

– Debbie McGrath – Founder of HR.com, she’s forgotten more about this industry than I’ll ever know. Constantly innovating.

– Rob McIntosh – Executive TA advisor that is a top 1%er in terms of knowing more about TA than all of us. One of the few I read and listen to in this industry.

–  Victorio Milian – A better human than you and I will ever be, HR consultant and leader, one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, with a keen eye.

– Crystal Miller Lay – Employment branding and recruitment marketing expert and leader, constant hustle, unapologetic in a good way.

– Jessica Miller-Merrell – The queen of HR/TA blogging, HR/TA tech expert, constantly pushing forward, challenges the norm.

– Danielle Monaghan – The only head of TA for a giant corporation I’ve ever met you will tell you exactly how it is, publicly. So awesome!

– Neil Morrison – HR Executive out of the UK. Might be smartest HR dude on the planet. Great writer and thinker. I’m love listening to him.

– Kevin Mullins – HR Tech marketing executive, flat out ‘gets it’, a driving force behind WorkHuman, had great vision.

– Shannon Pritchett – Worldwide sourcing leader, Ms. SourceCon, super smart and willing to give back to the community.

– Laurie Ruettimann – Friend. Original HR blogger with snark and sass, showed everyone else how to do it. Mentor of mine. Smart beyond our industry.

– Tim Sackett – Like I said, I hate lists, but I hate them less if I’m on them!

– Lars Schmidt – HROS co-founder, Fast Company author, employment brand strategist who is super nice, helpful and giving.

– Robin Schooling – Trench HR leader, blogger, an awesome lady who just gets HR at a level most will never get to.

– Jason Seiden – Branding genius, overall genius, one of the few people I shut up and listen to when they speak. Always has great ideas.

– Mary Ellen Slayter – Content marketing expert, good people, knows where the bodies are buried in our industry and can use that knowledge to help her clients.

– Leela Srinivasan – Top 3 HR/TA Technology CMOs on the planet who also never invites me to her events. She’s smart that way.

– Marcus Stewart – HR professor at Bentley Univ., best friend since junior high, the single smartest person I know.

– Matt Stollak – The only HR professor on the planet who has been able to make the transition into mainstream HR writing. Sparty. #8ManRotation

– Mark Stelzner -HR advisor to the who’s who of HR leaders on the planet. Might be the person in HR who can fix you the fastest, and he’s just a great guy.

– Will Staney – TA consultant, industry expert, always willing to give back and work to make the industry better overall.

– Bret Starr – Marketing genius who doesn’t believe he is. Nice dude, great leader. Some of the best ideas on the planet.

– John Sumser -Brilliant dude, industry guru respected by all, one of the few who will ask the toughest questions and get the answers.

– Ronda Taylor – HR marketing expert, Twitter hashtag guru, constantly helping others get better at the game.

– Ron Thomas – Global HR leader, tireless industry advocate, awesome person, your guy on the ground in Dubai!

– William Tincup – Part of my tribe. Great sense of humor I’ve ever met. Smartest guy in our industry. I envy his mind. He’s my go to on most things in life.

– Ambrosia Vertesi – Exceptional HR leader who is wise beyond her years, HROS co-founder, creative with a great sense of humor.

– Jess Von Bank – Tireless industry sales executive who is in constant hustle mode, not constant sales mode.

– Jeff Waldman – Social HR Camp founder, constant industry advocate north of the border, brilliant TA mind.

– William Wiggins – Exceptional HR Leader, one-half the great Wiggins-Hudson duo, one of the funniest HR pros I know.

– Mike Wood – Marketing leader for Globoforce, never stops, behind the force that has become WorkHuman, one of the good guys!

– Stacy Zapar – Constant hustle. Super talented TA leader. Uses her skill sets better than anyone on the planet. Beyond nice.

– Shaunda Zilich – Employment brand leader at GE, can build a motor cycle, thinks about EB completely differently than everyone else!

Okay, I know I’ve forgotten about fifty people, so I apologize to all those friends and smart people I’ve left off this list! Also, I know it’s not in perfect alphabetic order. Look it’s my list, I can arrange it any way I want!

Damn, this list thing is harder than it looks!

 

 

The Questions Leaders Ask When Great Talent Leaves

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Employee Turnover is a major problem in the majority of organizations, and it’s going to get worse. The economy might not continue to be as strong in the near future as it has been, but it doesn’t look to be any major downturn as well. Plus, demographics are playing into the job seekers favor with so many people retiring.

I’ve never been too concerned with low performers leaving my organization. I do have an issue with hiring managers telling me a performer is average or above, then when they leave the ‘new’ story comes out about how that person was a piece of garbage and now we are ‘better’ off that they left. Wait? What? You said this person was solid, but now they’re awful?

This happens all the time, especially in organizations that segment and track turnover by performance and hold managers accountable to this metric.

For me, I think the best organizations at controlling turnover are the ones where the leadership asks certain questions when they see their best talent leave. The ones that really dig into the reasons and not allow a middle-level manager make up a reason. The ones that have a documented ‘save’ strategy in place.

Here are some of the questions I ask myself when great talent leaves:

  1. Is there anything I could have done to keep this person with our organization? Why wasn’t that done?
  2. Was there anything the employee asked for to stay but we couldn’t deliver?
  3. What would have had to take place to keep this employee with us?
  4. Can we get this employee to return to us in the future?
  5. What was the ‘real’ reason this employee left?
  6. Did we ask this employee what it would take to keep them with us? What was the answer?

I’m a firm believer that you can talk anyone into staying with your organization. I’m also a firm believer that the ‘studies’ that tell you people who accept a counter offer will leave in 18 months anyway are completely wrong and out of date!

What I’ve found in all my years of doing this is that for about 50% of people who tell you they’re leaving, small things can keep them and ultimately they actually want to stay, but someone else showed them some love, and that feels so good to be wanted by another! The other 50% probably have a larger issue that is harder to solve, but if you work really hard it can get done.

One issue organizations with high turnover face is they let each other off the hook with turnover by giving each other excuses. “Yeah, Tim used to be good, but lately, he’s been awful.” “Well, it’ll hurt losing Mary, but we weren’t going to keep her happy for long.” “George is our best sales person, but he was holding other back that can be great as well.”

To control turnover leadership needs to change this narrative and stop the excuses for every single turn. The one caveat I allow is documented bottom performers that are on a plan. That’s good turnover, but it better be documented, or it’s bad turnover. Leadership owns this and it starts with tough questions about their own behavior that led to the turn.

If you get to this place, turnover will stop being a problem, and start being an opportunity.

The Special Secret of Chronic Low Performers

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Do you guys want to know a little secret?  You know how I like hanging out with smokers because they have all the cool inside information before anyone else?  Your chronic low performers have a similar skill.  It’s kind of like information.  Chronic low performers are really good at being low performers!  They’ve figured it out!  They’ve figured out how to do the bare minimum, without getting fired, and you still pay them for showing up and continuing to give you low performance.

If that isn’t a skill then I don’t know what skills are! Let that marinate a little on your mind.

The only reason you have a chronic low performer, is they’ve figured out how to master low performance.

All of us have chronic low performers.  We’ve shot them a million times behind closed doors but never pulled the trigger when the door was open.  I can distinctly remember having conversations about a certain manager when I was at Applebees at 6 straight calibration meetings over 3 years and heard stories about him before I’d come into the organization.  He just was good/bad enough to keep hanging on.  One meeting we’d be short, so he’d make it one more session. Then, the next meeting we’d have some idiot do something really bad and Mr. Chronic Low Performer lives on to suck another day!  The next meeting it would be some other lame reason.  Each time just squeaking by.

Then, the next meeting we’d have some idiot do something really bad and Mr. Chronic Low Performer lives on to suck another day!  The next meeting it would be some other lame reason.  Each time just squeaking by.

Think about all of the people you’ve ever let go. They usually fall into 3 – 4 groups:

1. Bad Performer/bad fit from the start (you shot them early)

2. Good Performer did something really stupid (didn’t want to fire, but had to)

3. Layoffs (decision above your pay grade)

4. Chronic Low Performers (hardly ever happens, they do anything really stupid, personally you don’t hate them)

We have Chronic Low Performers because they make it easy for us to keep them.  They say the right things when we tell them they need to pick it up or else. They’re ‘company’ people, all except for actually adding value part.  They give you no major reason to let them go, all except for not really doing that good of a job.  They always seem to have a semi-legitimate reason for not performing well.

I always wonder how much money chronic low performers have cost organizations vs. the good/great performers we had to let go because they pushed the envelope a little too far and we had to fire them.  My guess is the low performers win hands-down.  You could have a great sales person who is constantly fudging his expense reports or a chronic low performer in the same role. Who would you take?

You don’t have to answer, you do every day.  You take the low performer.  “Well, what do you want us to keep the thief!”  No. But I’m wondering if great performance can be rehabbed?  I know Chronic Low Performance can’t.  My guess is good/great probably can.  Just a thought.

So, why do you have chronic low performers?  It’s not that you allow it. It’s because you just found out what they are really good at!

Did Your Employees Ride the Bus to School?

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It’s that time of year when parents and kids make a big decision, to ride or not ride the school bus! From the Project archives.

I read a very funny quote today from a comedian, Jenny Johnson, which she said

“If you rode the school bus as a kid, your parents hated you.”

It made me laugh out loud, for two reasons:

1. I rode the bus or walked or had to arrive at school an hour early because that was when my Dad was leaving and if I wanted a ride that was going to be it.  Nothing like sitting at school talking to the janitor because he was the only other person to arrive an hour before school started.  Luckily for me, he was nice enough to open the doors and not make me stand outside in the cold.  Lucky for my parents he wasn’t a pedophile!

2. My kids now make my wife and I feel like we must be the worst parents in the world in those rare occasions that they have to ride the bus.  I know I’m doing a disservice to my sons by giving them this ride – but I can’t stop it, it’s some American ideal that gets stuck in my head about making my kids life better than my life, and somehow I’ve justified that by giving them a ride to school their life is better than mine!

When I look back it, riding the bus did suck, you usually had to deal with those kids who parents truly did hate them.  Every bully in the world rode the bus. Let’s face it their parents weren’t giving them a ride, so you had to deal with that (me being small and red-headed probably had to deal with it more than most).

You also got to learn most of the life lessons on the bus, you found out about Santa before everyone else, you found out how babies got made before everyone else, you found out about that innocent kid stuff that makes kids, kids before you probably should have.  But let’s face it, the bus kids were tough! You had to get up earlier, stand out in the cold, get home later and take a beating after the ride home, just so you had something to look forward to the next day!

You know as HR Pros we tend also not to let our employees “ride the bus”.   We always look for an easier way for them to do their work, to balance their work and home, to do as little as possible to get the job done.  In a way, too many of us, are turning our organizations and our employees into the kids who had their Mom’s pick them up from school.

I’m not saying go be hard on your employees, but as a profession, we might be better off to be a little less concerned with how comfortable everyone is, and a little more concerned with how well everybody is performing.

Too many HR Pros (and HR shops for that matter) tend to act as “parents” to the employees, not letting them learn from their mistakes, but trying to preempt every mistake before it’s made – either through extensive processes or overly done performance management systems.  We justify this by saying we are just “protecting” our organizations but in the end, we aren’t really making our employees or organizations “tougher” or preparing them to handle the hard times we all must face professionally.  It’ll be alright they might not like it 100%, but in the end, they’ll be better for it.