Make HR Suck Less

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Tim Sackett

Are you working in a HR department that sucks? You know if you are, it’s alright, you can admit it – it’s the first step of changing it.

I bet I talk to over a hundred HR Pros a year that begin the conversation with – “our HR department sucks!” or “my company doesn’t get it when it comes to HR” or “Our HR department is terrible”. It’s not the outlier, it’s the norm. So, many HR Pros working in HR functions where the organization has the feeling that “HR” sucks in our company. If you’re not in one now – great – but chances are you have either been in one before, or eventually you’ll make a “grass is greener” decision and put yourself into this situation.

You know what? We have the power to make HR Suck Less. Yes, you do. Stop it, you do. No really, you do. Alright that’s enough, just play along with me at least!

Here are the 3 steps to making HR Suck Less:

1. Stop doing stuff that Sucks. But Tim! We have to do this stuff. No you don’t – if your HR shop blew up tomorrow – your organization would still go on. Over time you’ve “negotiated” to do all this sucky stuff – thinking it would “help” the organization, or give you “influence”, etc. Stop that. Give it away, push it out to other departments – start doing stuff that doesn’t suck, more than doing stuff that does suck. It’s not easy, but it can be done, little by little.

2. Get rid of people in HR who Suck. Some people get real comfortable with sucking. They wear their suckiness around like a badge of honor. You need to cut the suck out of your department – like cancer!

3. Stop saying that you Suck. We brand ourselves internally with everything we do – and if you say that you suck at something – the organizational will believe you suck at something. If you say we are the best in the industry at recruiting our competitions talent away from them – you’ll be forced to live up to that – and little by little you will live up to that and the organization will begin to believe it as well. Signs and Symbols!

Every single HR Shop who feels they suck – doesn’t have to suck. If you feel you don’t suck, but everyone else tells you that you suck – you suck. You’re just delusional and you keep telling yourself things like “we have to do this stuff”, “it’s the law”, “we don’t have a choice”, etc. This is the first sign you’re comfortable with sucking – you aren’t listening to your organization. No one has to suck – you can decide to do things in a complete different way. Perception is reality in terms of sucking. You need to change perceptions, not reality. You can still accomplish the exact same things, just do it in a way that people think you rock. Start saying “Yes” to everything – not “No”. “No” sucks.

Sucking less is a decision – not a skill. You all have the skills – you just need to make the decision – to stand up and believe – Today we will no longer Suck!

#19 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Tim Sackett

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

The #19 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style comes from Ice T’s song New Jack Hustler from the New Jack City movie soundtrack – classic early 90’s movie by the way, with a great part played by an up-and-coming comedian Chris Rock as Pookie. (Editorial comment – isn’t this entire thing an editorial comment? – If you haven’t checked out Ice Loves Coco on E on Sunday nights – you’re missing the best TV ever! To go from Gagnsta Rapper to Law & Order actor to Ice Loves Coco is a trip beyond imagination!) Ok, here’s the lyric:

“I had nothing and I wanted it; you had everything and you flaunted it…”

I think you can break down most people into two groups: the haves and the have nots. I tend to live my life like a “have not” – which means I push to become a “have”. How does this shape my leadership style? I’m rarely satisfied. I always think I can do better, or do more. The “haves” in the world tend to sit back and become soft – they don’t push as hard any more, they don’t work as hard anymore – they have it. The “have nots” are the exact opposite.

Many that know me would probably say – well, wait a minute – you’re a “have” – great job, great family, etc. – who are you kidding – you’re a “have”! But that’s the real difference – I don’t consider myself a “have” – and I don’t act like a “have” – from a leadership standpoint that means I don’t allow my team to act like “haves”. I’ll blame my mother for this – as Prince said “She’s never satisfied” and neither am I. This can be a difficult leadership trait to have – most people don’t like working for someone who isn’t satisfied easy. Knowing this I work extra hard to surround myself with high potential folks who score off the chart on Results Orientation. I want people on my team – who want it more than I want it! We go to work – every day – we bring it.

I love coming to work for that simple fact – these folks – my team – bring it! They work like they have nothing – and they want it!

It’s Back! FOT’s Top 25 HR/Recruiting Blogs!

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Tim Sackett

Fistful of Talent – which I’m proud to be a member of – is releasing it’s Top 25 HR and Recruiting Blogs. What’s really cool about this list – unlike some other lists I have poetically mentioned in prior posts – is this isn’t made up by some random analysis, of random metrics – this thing is totally un-apologetically 100% subjective! That’s right, we (the FOT Tribe) sent in our own Top 25 HR and Recruiting Blogs that we love to read -the blogs we are fans of – and we ranked them 1 to 25. Simple – yet very effective!

I’m not saying that it’s easy to pick the Top 25 – for starters no FOTer blog can be a part of our list – which right there eliminates probably the 10 greatest blogs on the planet! So, I might have to recommend to Kris that next year we call the list – The Top 11-35 HR and Recruiting Blogs! That being said we looked at hundreds of blogs – many of us have our personal favorites – many of us really like and read blogs that our out of the HR world – as our personal favorites. What I can tell you – is the Top 25 – are solid! If you are looking for a list of HR and Recruiting blogs to follow – you won’t go wrong with any of these!

FOT’s own Steve Boese will be doing his thing tonight at the HR Happy Hour – unveiling the winners and talking HR with some of the top HR bloggers in the business – go check him out –

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/steve-boese/2012/03/23/hr-happy-hour-141–the-hr-blog-power-rankings

HR Happy Hour Episode 141 – ‘The HR Blog Power Rankings’

Losing Your Job – Tebow Style!

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Tim Sackett

By now most of the free world knows that Peyton Manning accepted the quarterback position with the Denver Broncos who already had a quarterback in Tim Tebow. Ouch.To be honest it was really the only way that the Denver Broncos were going to get out of this Tebow mess. I like the kid, but he isn’t one of the better NFL quarterbacks, and he certainly wasn’t going to take them to the Super Bowl. Now they have a Hall of Fame caliber quarterback in Manning – who, if he fails, will have at least accomplished one thing for the Broncos – he got rid of Tebow without the fans losing their minds! Tebow is a fan favorite, which is like saying, fat kids slightly like cake – Bronco fans, heck, NFL fans in general, lost their minds about Tebow run last season. Getting rid of him wasn’t an option for the organization – until something so good came along it made everyone forget how much they loved Tebow.

You see great Talent has a way of doing that – making you forget about your favorites. Do you have a Tebow in your organization? I bet you do – and you know if you tried to get rid of them, your employees would lose their minds, culturally it would be bad, productively it would be bad, moral-wise it would be bad. So, you don’t do it – even if the person really isn’t holding up their end of the bargain any longer.

So, what do you do?

You do what Elway did with the Broncos – you bring in better talent and cut bait with your employee favorite! You have to do this. You have no choice. To keep an under-performing employee, just because everyone likes that person – is HR death! But, what do you do if the person is an average employee and well liked, but you get a chance to bring in superior talent? You do the same thing – but you you have to very careful on how you make that transition. Unfortunately, the talent that you and I bring into our organizations usually isn’t as highly publicized as a Peyton Manning! So, we, as HR/Talent Pros, have to do some of our own internal PR work on the new talent.

What does internal PR on a new hire look like? It starts with getting your leadership team all on the same page – they need to be excited and 100% supportive of the new person. Then focus on the new person’s direct team/department. They don’t have to be excited – remember they just lost someone they love – but they have to be supportive. The best way to do this is through a structured transition meeting – where they get to learn about the new person, but also voice their pain of their loss – it’s good for both parties to be on the same page. The final step is to get of the news release to the rest of the organization if all the high points of the new talent. Be careful not to do this first, because people will instantly run to the new group and ask about it. A transition meeting has to be done, so they a ready to respond and be supportive of the new person. To often in our organizations we rush to “tell everyone” before the person starts, or soon after, it’s more important to wait on this communication and get those closest up to speed first.

No one ever wants to let go of an organizational favorite – but in HR it’s our job to increase the talent of our organizations – sometimes that means making an unpopular decision. The best HR Pros find ways to move the organization forward quickly and while be supportive.

All Hail The Newest Job Board

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Tim Sackett

With the Death March of Monster that has been going on in the media lately (check out Jason Buss’s post on it from last week – 7 Warning Signs For Monster), I thought it was high time we start giving kudos to the new King of the Job Boards!

So, without further ado – Please give a warm welcome and many slaps on the back to…

What did you think I was going say – CareerBuilder?! They are just Monster with different shoes.

The real congratulations goes to LinkedIn! They put so much time and effort into building their next generation job board, I’m really proud of them. It wasn’t easy to reinvent the job board industry, but they found away. Sure it was by first establishing themselves as a credible “networking” site, before pulling wool over the eyes of its members and selling their contact information to corporate recruiters for $8500 per year. I mean it was pure genius! It actually brings a tear to my eye.

Monster and CareerBuilder could only have dreamed of making a site that looks like a legitimate networking site, one that HR folks actually encourage their employees to get onto – only to be systematically picked off by their competition. Pure magic!

Today I’m going to recommend, as a HR community, that we do something to recognize LinkedIn as the biggest HR innovation of the 21st century. Somebody call Bill Kutik to see if he can put this award together in time for HR Tech 2012. It was going to be no small task to reinvent the job boards – but as a Talent Pro I’m sure glad that somebody figured it out – Thank You LinkedIn! We bow to your greatness.

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

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Tim Sackett

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.

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

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

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Tim Sackett

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.

Essential vs. Non-Essential Employees

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Tim Sackett

I’ve had many conversations in my career with employees who “essentially” felt they were probably more important to the business than they really were. You know who I’m talking about! The ones who at some point let it slip: “This place would shut down if I wasn’t here” or “Let’s see how you do if I leave” or “I made this company what it is today”. It’s usually a sales person, or technical person who have had big roles, no doubt, but they begin to get a little to big for their own britches (as my grandmother would say). Over time I’ve developed a good two point test to determine if someone is Essential or Non-essential to your business:

1. In a snow storm, is this person required to make it into the office/facility no matter what? (think large storm – more than one day)

Example: I worked in a large Health System – Doctors & Nurses had to get in – we actually had plans on how to get them to work in an emergency. I on the other hand, being in HR – didn’t have anyone coming to pick me up in a 4 wheel drive SUV.

2. Does the person in question spend way too much of their time trying to convince you of how important they are to your operation?

Examples: “Without me are largest client wouldn’t be here.” ; “Our department (a non-revenue generating department) saved the organization over $500K last year.” – on a budget of $3.7M…

You know what is really interesting about looking at the life of an organization – when they start out, in their infancy, there is only Essential employees. We make widgets, all you need is someone to get widget material, someone to make widgets and someone to sell widgets and someone to collect the cash and pay the bills. Pretty basic. No HR, No Marketing or Finance, No customer service – it’s a very straight line organization. Most companies don’t even add an HR element to their organizations until they get over 100 employees – usually an office manager/payroll/accounting person or the owner takes on this responsibility.

I always like to remind myself of who is “really” essential in my organization. It’s important. It’s important that as a “client” to those people, I make sure I focus what I’m doing on things that will help them do what they are doing. That only happens when I actually talk to them, face-to-face, and ask them – “What can I do, to help you do what you do?” Doesn’t seem overly complicated – but somehow we try and make it harder than that. You see, that’s what non-essentials do – we convince you that what we do is really important!

I like to look at organizations the same way you pick a team on the playground. If you had the most essential person in your company begin picking a team – where would you get picked? First, 10th, last? It’s a good exercise to go through. What you’ll see is your most essential person will pick individuals who will/can help them get the job done – without hassle, without issues, without extra work.

Are you Essential to your organization?

Bad Hires Worse

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Tim Sackett

If I could take all of my HR education, My SPHR and 20 years of experience and boil it down to this one piece of advice, it would be this:

Bad Hires Worse.

In HR we love to talk about our hiring and screening processes, and how we “only” hire the best talent, but in the end we, more times than not, leave the final decision on who to hire to the person who will be responsible to supervise the person being hired – the Hiring Manager. I don’t know about all of you, but in my stops across corporate America, all of my hiring managers haven’t been “A” players, many have been “B” players and a good handful of “C” players. Yet, in almost all of those stops, we (I) didn’t stop bad hiring managers from hiring when the need came. Sure I would try to influence more with my struggling managers, be more involved – but they still ultimately had to make a decision that they had to live with.

I know I’m not the only one – it happens every single day. Everyday we allow bad hiring managers to make talent decisions in our organizations, just as we are making plans to move the bad manager off the bus. It’s not an easy change to make in your organization. It’s something that has to come from the top. But, if you are serious about making a positive impact to talent in your organization you can not allow bad managers to make talent decisions. They have to know, through performance management, that: 1. You’re bad (and need fixing or moving); 2. You no longer have the ability to make hiring decisions. That is when you hit your High Potential manager succession list and tap on some shoulders. “Hey, Mrs. Hi-Po, guess what we need your help with some interviewing and selection decisions.” It sends a clear and direct message to your organization – we won’t hire worse.

Remember, this isn’t just an operational issue – it happens at all levels, in all departments. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is look in the mirror at our own departments. If you have bad talent in HR, don’t allow them to hire (“but it’s different we’re in HR, we know better!” – No you don’t – stop it). Bad hires worse – over and over and over. Bad needs to hire worse, they’re desperate, they’ll do anything to protect themselves, they make bad decisions – they are Bad. We/HR own this. We have the ability and influence to stop it. No executive is going to tell you “No” when you suggest we stop allowing our bad managers the ability to make hiring decisions – they’ll probably hug you.

It’s a regret I have – something I will change. If it happens again, I won’t allow it. I vow from this day forward, I will never allow a bad hiring manager to make a hiring decision – at least not without a fight!

The 8 Man Rotation – 2011 Season

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Tim Sackett

In what is probably the most anticipated eBook release of 2012 the The 8 Man Rotation crew (Matt Stollack, Steve Boese, Lance Haun, Kris Dunn and I) today release to the world version two of our most famous HR/Sports related blog posts of 2011: The 8 Man Rotation – the 2011 Season. The forward is written by two of our HR friends and great writers in their own right – Trish McFarlane and William Tincup – who get to poke fun at our obsession with the weird combination of sports and HR that we just won’t give up writing about. Check it out –

The 8 Man Rotation – The 2011 Season

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Category Archives: Recruiting

#19 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

“I had nothing and I wanted it; you had everything and you flaunted it…”