Category Archives: The HR Rules

Management is Judged by its Second Act

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I have a new HR Crush and his name is Ben Brooks – check him out, the dude is a crazy smart HR dude from NYC (VP of Human Capital Performance at Marsh).  I saw him present at HR Tech about his company and the cool stuff they’ve done, are doing, etc., and he used this quote (he might not be the original, but after an extensive Google search I couldn’t find anyone better to attribute it to – Ben says his CEO at Marsh said something similar and he adapted it):

“Management is judged by its second act.”

Simple enough, but very powerful.  Think about that for a moment.  It would seem most leadership/management that I run into seem to want me to judge them based on their first act, right?  It makes sense, any time a new leadership person/team comes into an organization there is always some low hanging fruit that needs to be taken care of.  We always talk about how hard it is coming in as a new leader, but there are also some easy pieces to being a new leader.

New leaders have a small window of time where they get to point out all the obvious crap that’s wrong, like they’re some super genius consultant, and everyone thinks they’re brilliant.  They then go around fixing that stuff (the low hanging fruit) and then they live off of that for as long as possible.  Leadership lore is filled with “turn-around” specialist.  Leaders who come in, turn around a company, then take off to do it again, and again, for other companies.  They sell themselves as specialist, when in reality – they are just coming in and doing what everyone knows what needs to be done, they just don’t have the guts/influence/backing to do it.

The hard part of leadership is to perform your “second act”.  What do you do once all the easy stuff, the obviously broken stuff, is taken care of?  Yeah, that is hard!

Want to help out your C-suite?  Go to them with this concept and start helping them design their second act.  You might first have to help them define their first act! Let’s face it, leadership is a bit like politics, the more you market what you’ve already done, it helps buy you time to go and do some more stuff – but you still have to let people know what you’ve done!   Once you get act two drafted, you begin the marketing process for that as well.  It goes a little like: “Hey, we’ve done all this great work in Act 1, so now we are getting ready for our next stage and Act 2” – but with specifics, don’t really say Act 1 and Act 2 or you’ll sound like an idiot!

Act 2 won’t be easy – remember you’ve taken care of the easy crap.  Act 2 is going to be defining and it’s really where you get to understand, as a leader, am I any good at this leadership thing. At building a vision. At delivering something that moves an organization forward.  Most leaders never get to Act 2 because Act 1 is so gratifying they can’t pull themselves out of the theater, they just keep running the same show over and over, and many companies keep buying seats.

Have you begun your Second Act?

9 Wishes for New HR & Talent Professionals

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My favorite part of the fall conference season is the fact that I get to meet a ton of HR and Talent Pros and connect.  Of those, the ones I have the most fun talking to is the newbies!   They are still in that point in their career where HR is fun and exciting and they get jazzed up talking about the stuff we (older, I mean experienced HR Pros) no longer find as fascinating.   I usually find myself answering questions – you know the type – “how would you handle…?” or “what would you do…?”, etc.  Which gives me an opportunity to tell them here’s how I screwed it up when I first started, and here’s how I handle it now – which are usually very different.  So, as I reflect on this season I’ve come away with a few wishes for my fellow HR and Recruiting Pros who are just joining us on this journey.

I wish new…

 …HR pros would unlock the doors to their departments – wait – change that – actually take off the doors all together.

 …Corporate recruiters would make more outgoing calls then they get incoming calls.

 …HR pros would spend more than 50% of their time out of their office/cube walking around talking to employees and hiring managers.

 …Recruiters would never feel like it’s their responsibility to staff their companies – it’s not – it’s your leaders of your departments – you’re just the tool they use to accomplish it – but they’ve got to own it – ultimately they make the final decision, not you, which means it’s there responsibility.

 …HR pros never learn “soft” HR math.

 …Recruiters learn how to recruit before they learn how to build recruitment processes.

 …HR pros spend their first month (or more) in position actually working in operations, marketing and finance – it will make you a better HR pro!

 …Recruiters would build relationships with their main competition’s recruiters – this will make you better as well – and you won’t be giving away the corporate secrets!

 …HR pros would build more influence in their organizations than more process – one is easier to do – which is why you don’t do the other.

I guess I wish all of this stuff, because it’s stuff that I had to learn over time – and if I could have one wish for our newbie HR and Talent peers it would be they could have all of this knowledge up front as they come in the door.  Because I can’t have that wish – I’ll throw out a challenge to my HR brothers and sisters – take a new HR pro under your wing – it doesn’t have to be in your organization – just find one and do it.  Here’s what you’ll find – they will help you more than you’ll probably help them – helping a newbie will energize yourself, help you slow down on your own decision making and reflect on what you’re doing and its importance – and because of your experience it will allow you to go out and make some adjustments to your own shop that will have great impact to your business!

A Conversation: with your Least Engaged Employee

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You: “Hey, Lee (Least Engaged Employee) – how are you doing?”

Lee: “You know, working hard, hanging in there, one day at a time” (winky face)

You: “We need to talk.” (this is what all HR Pros say, it’s #1 in the “What to say when you’re in HR” handbook)

Lee: “About what?” Now, somewhat nervous because HR never talks about positive stuff.

You: “You know, it just doesn’t seem like you’re real excited about your job, or the company, I’m not sure.” Classic HR beating around the bush – also in the handbook

Lee: “No, really (deadpanned) I love it here.” Voice trailing off as he looks for a way out of this nightmare

You: “Well, that’s a relief because we love having you here.” Being able to effectively lie to yourself and employees – Handbook page 27.

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It’s funny because it’s to close to the truth for too many HR Pros and Hiring Managers.  We want engagement, but we have no idea how to talk to a person who isn’t engaged.  Let’s try one more script between you and Lee.

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You: “Lee, I need to talk to you about something that I’m very concerned about.” Set the tone immediately – it is serious – Lee’s position hangs in the balance.

Lee: “Sure. What is it?” No one ever turns down talking with HR – what choice do they really have…

You: “I’ve noticed that your lack of engagement with your job, with the organization is starting down a path that isn’t going to end well.”

Lee: “What do you mean!? I love my job, and the company.” This is what low engagement employees say, because they aren’t showing it.

You: “No you don’t.  If you did, I and your manager would be seeing this out of you: example, example, example.”

You: “So, we have 3 choices: 1. Continued lying to each other until we fire you; 2. Continue lying to each other until you leave on your own; or 3. We fix it.”

Lee: “I’m not lying – let’s fix it.” Lee just told you 2 lies in that small statement – Lee is lying and Lee probably won’t fix it without major help

You: “So, tell me why are you no longer engaged?”  Then shut up, wait, wait an uncomfortably long amount of time for Lee to speak.

Lee: “Lame reason I think you want to hear to get you off my back, and back to my desk so I can update my resume on Monster.”

You: “No, really, why?” More uncomfortable silence

Lee: “Something closer to the truth you both already knew.”

You: “Now, let’s come up with how we can turn this ship around.”

You and Lee: “Plans, promises, measures, next meetings followup dates, morning hugs, etc.”

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We tend to treat our least engaged employees like a virus.  Stay away, wash our hands of it and hope it goes away.  Rarely do we ever really go out and “engage” our least engaged employees.  Seems like too much work, too much time, too much of headache.  It is.  It is also the only way to move in the direction you want to go, the fastest.  That direction might be to turn the employee around, or it might be to kick them off your buss – either way – the conversation must be had appropriately to move in that direction.

Have you talked to Lee lately?

The Law of Diminishing Title Return

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“I don’t care what you call me – my title is meaningless!”

Have you heard this?  If you’re in HR long enough – you’ll hear this a number of times over your career.  You know who says this?  People making a lot of money, people who’ve been out of work and are just happy to have a job, or people who’ve been around so long they actually really don’t care anymore!

Titles are important to people – although that is not the politically correct thing to say – so hardly ever hear the truth when it comes to titles.  Don’t think titles are important in your organization – try changing some – try going, let’s say, backwards in title!  You’ll see how important it is.  The issue I see in many organizations is the concept of Title Creep.  When for whatever reason, usually the business not doing well so you don’t have money to give out, the organization starts giving out titles over raises (“Hey, Janie, doesn’t look like we have any budget money to give you your 3% raise this year, but gosh golly you sure our important to us, so we want to “promote” you to Manager!).  And you know what? That crap works for a little while! Because people love titles!

Just look at banks – they’re really funny about titles!  Everyone at a bank – and I mean everyone – is either a Vice President or a President!  Banks really have screwed up the title thing worse than any other industry.  You will see banks now that the person’s title will be Vice President – Manager of Recruiting, or Sr. Vice President – Director of Human Resources – and I wonder to myself – “So, what is it – VP or Director!? What are you?”  This is where titles go very wrong and stop having value to the individual.

The main problem with title creep is when it’s used and people feel because they have, or have had, a certain title that means they should get that title in another organization.  I interviewed a sharp person a while back who had graduated from college in HR and over the course of about 6 years went from HR Generalist, to HR Manager, to HR Director, to VP of HR in the same organization. Impressive, right?  But wait, there’s more to the story!  She lost her position do to an organizational change (that’s what we call getting fired today so the GenY’s and millennials still feel it’s not their fault) and was struggling finding another “executive” role in HR.  I asked her a couple of questions:

1. From your beginning as an HR Generalist to your final role as VP of HR, how many direct reports did you pick up?

              A: 1

2. From your HR Gen role to VP role – what responsibilities did you pick up?

             A: Well…I still do everything, but I also am now more strategic.

Oh, boy.  So, I got to share with her some advice. Stop looking for an “executive” role, find a solid HR Gen or HR Manager role – you my friend are no VP of HR!   Title Creep really hurt her.

In HR we have a major role in this concept of Diminishing Returns in regards to Titles, and that role should be to stop handing out titles like it’s candy from the bowl on the receptionist’s desk at the front door.  We should protect titles and not allow them to diluted, because most people do like them, and they can be a valuable tool in your compensation tool box, but only if you don’t use them very often.

BTW – best title ever is from K Swiss Kenny Powers commercials!

HR’s Largest Affliction

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You know what I really like about Sales departments in most organizations?  They try, or do, almost anything, once, to try and increase sales for your organization.  They are willing to take chances, to tinker, to experiment and the organization is fine with it – hell, most organizations expect sales to do stupid stuff every now and again.  Marketing is the same way – if there is a dumb idea out there – someone in Marketing is bound to come up with it – and give it try.  Why not?!  It might actually work.  Operations? Same thing.  When I was at Applebee’s, about once a year some operations person would say “Hey, we should do Breakfast!” You mean America’s beer and burger place, doing eggs and bacon? Sure, why not.  Then after one week of trying a “Sunday Brunch” they’d go – “That’s dumb – let’s not do that”.   But they tried it.

HR, not so much.

Somehow HR became our organizations’ Mom.  I’m not sure how your Mom is but most Mom’s do whatever they can to put their kids out of risk.  I called this “Bubble Boy” when my boys were little and my wife would do everything possible to keep them out of harms way.  I’m sure, if would have been possible, she would have found a way to put a bubble around our boys to keep them safe.  Not a bad – necessarily – right?  Ultimately, we want to keep our kids safe – out of harms way.  That is the role of Mom.

HR is not Mom.

That really is our (HR’s) major affliction.  We are trying to be “Mom”, when no one in our organization, including the C-suite, is asking us to be “Mom”.  Most HR shops run like they are trying to eliminate 100% of the organizations risk.  The problem is – it’s not HR’s role to eliminate risk from the organization.  HR can advise of risk – “Hey, you might not want to do that, could get us into some hot water, but if you do, here’s how I can help” – but it shouldn’t be spending large amounts of time figuring out how to eliminate risk.  That’s why you have legal council – every company I know – even ones with 25 employees – have legal council.  Maybe not onsite – but they can make a call.

Think about it for a minute.  No other part of your organization spends time trying to eliminate risk.  They spend time trying to figure out what risks they should be taking to move the organization forward.  Some of those risks won’t work. Some of those risks will work so well it will transform the organization.  We need them to take risks.  Taking risks, calculated, is what drives innovation, drives increased revenues and drives long term health of our organizations.  Risk avoidance is an ill HR can cure.

HR needs to take risks.  Our organizations require this.

Better Boss or More Money – What do You choose?

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There was a survey done recently by Michelle McQuaid and the results were picked up by a number of news outlets and delivered as big news.  The basis of the study was, if given a choice, would your employee choose a better boss or a pay raise – and guess what they found!?

65% of employees say they would rather have a Better Boss than more Money!

So, my question to you – do you think this is true?  If you went to your employees right now, today, and told them – look we know, based on this survey you guys want a better boss, so we going to fire the idiot we have managing you right now and let you pick your next boss!  And, because we are doing this – you don’t get a raise next year – but don’t worry – you’ll be more engaged and happier because this next gal you pick to tell you what to do is really going to that much better! What do you say – are you in?!

Before you go cutting your increase budget for 2013, and funneling all of that money into leadership development – let’s look at a couple of things:

1. The person who did the survey -Michelle McQuaid – has a consulting business and guess what she’s selling? Engagement!

2. The survey sample was a total of 1000 folks from various demographics – and I’m sure was academically and statistically tested to be completely valid and reliable…

Unfortunately, the media outlets that pick this crap up never give the full story – that’s not their job – their job is to get you to click – and most people believe what they read.  Put into context, this survey is almost laughable – One person, trying to sell her ideas, throws a survey together that just by happenstance validates what she’s saying.  The Business Insider even tied Gallup into the article  making it look even more valid – which causes great confusion!

Here’s my real life study of this same subject – do this for me and let me know how it turns out:

1. Take $2500 cash – stacks of $20 bills – and set them in front of an employee.  Let the employee touch the money – pick it up.

2. Then, ask this one question – “You can have a new boss – a better boss – or you – right now – can have this money. Which one would you like?”

3. Do this to 100 employees – or 1000 (like it matters) – and tell me your results.

Here is my guarantee to you – and if it doesn’t work out this way – I’ll pay for your study.  You will not have 65% of your employees chose a new boss!!!!  I guarantee it.  Look I get what Michelle is trying to do – we’ve all drank the engagement Koolaid – so now we’re supposed to believe that money no longer matters to people. Well it does – it matters a whole lot – don’t try and kid yourself.  Telling yourself that your employees will pick a better boss over a raise is fools gold – and makes you look like an idiot to your executives – because they know reality.  People want a better boss – people need and want more money – more.

Social Responsibility is a Bunch of Crap!

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GUEST POST ALERT!  I know I’ve told a number of folks I don’t do guest posts – but it’s my site and I changed my mind – because I like this post from Ben Eubanks (check out his bio below), plus I like the kid and know him and did I mention it’s my site and I can do what I want?!  Check it out –

 

Social responsibility. It conjures up images of business people giving up their purpose and profits for the “greater good.” And I think it’s a load of crap.

I think businesses provide a much larger service to our economy than simply handing over their profits in the name of “social responsibility.” They provide jobs, products, and services that power our economy, and that’s more valuable than all the handouts in the world.

If a company is being ethical and lawful in their business dealings, then I think we have no right to expect them to do more. 

They are already having a major impact by offering jobs to people who might not have one otherwise. If you collected a paycheck sometime this month, raise your hand. Now, go and hug your CEO if you can find him/her.*

That is where businesses provide the greatest value to the rest of the world.

But we care about [animals / the environment / whatever]!

What’s going to help local charities and social programs to be successful? Money.

And where does money come from, ladies and gentlemen? Why, it comes from businesses creating valuable products and services and selling those in the open marketplace for a profit. Money in local economies is circulated when those businesses pay their employees who then go out and purchase other products and services. Hellloooo, economics.

There’s nothing wrong with companies wanting to support their local charitable organizations, but it should never become such a focus that it causes them to kill the goose that’s laying the golden eggs. Oh, and if they are dumping money into those sorts of things on a regular basis, you can bet that you aren’t getting paid enough.

It’s not that I hate charities. It’s that I hate when business leaders feel guilted into giving when they could be investing that money to hire more people, sell a better product, etc. Each of those options can have a net positive impact on a local economy.

*Not responsible for repercussions of unsolicited executive hugging sessions.

Ben Eubanks is an HR pro, speaker, and writer. He works as a one-man HR team at Pinnacle Solutions during the day, and at night he writes at upstartHR-an HR blog with a little humor, humility, and how-to. Check it out to learn more about the benefits of team building and other “in the trenches” HR topics.

Talent is a Zero Sum Game

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There is a mathematical concept called Zero-Sum, what is says is basically where one person, organization, etc. will gain, there is an equal loss by another person, organization, etc. of that exact same amount.   An example might be market share of a corporation – if GM has 17% market share of U.S. car buyers, and it gains 1%, to 18% total market share – the 1% came at the expense of their competition.  GM didn’t miraculously grow/build/birth 1% of new car buyers out of thin air. It’s a Zero-Sum game, their competition loses the exact same number of car buyers that GM gained – you rob Peter to pay Paul. 

Hiring Managers never get this!

Talent and HR Pros feel this all the time.  Hard to fill requisition, limited talent pool and the hiring managers makes you feel like you should be able to go down to the vending machine and just select C-3 and another Software Developer will fall down into your hands, ready to work! (by the way C-3 in my office is Peanut Butter M&M’s which seem to make everything better at almost any time of the day!) But it’s not that easy, right?!  Talent is a Zero-Sum game.  Now, I know my OD and Training friends will be all – “No it’s not! We can grow and build new Talent!”  Not really – not in the time I need it – which is NOW – or – YESTERDAY!  That’s my timing – it’s not 3 months or a year down the road.

That’s are main problem in Talent in 99.9% of organizations, are lack of organizational understanding of the simple concept of Zero-Sum.  If organizations really got this concept they would have robust, funded, succession planning programs that would be attempting to build future talent, to expand their internal talent pools,  but we don’t.  Less than 1% of organizations in the world really fund succession the way it needs to be funded if you want to be self sufficient in terms of talent.  Organizationally, you’re paying either way – you either pay the money up front in terms of talent attraction, or you can pay it on the backside with retention and training – so why does almost every company choose the front side of this equation?  I think most choose the talent attraction spend because we (HR/Talent/OD) have done a horrible job of working with our finance teams to come up with a plan that shows our organization there’s a better way to spend our money.  We haven’t given our leadership a better option – so we/they continue to choose to do more of the same.

Some could argue that we are currently in a less than Zero-Sum game with our employee demographics.  We have more of our population reaching retirement age, than we have potential workforce reaching the age/education/experience to replace our leaving workforce.  But, even at zero – you still see the problem we are in, it’s never ending, it’s just how do you choose to play the game.  I like thinking about our HR/Talent problems in terms of mathematics, because it gives me the feeling there are actually solutions and it’s just a matter of building the solution/process.   I think most will argue that the solution is to do all of it in combination – some attraction, some succession, some training – which I agree with, but I think the percentages of your current combination need to change if you truly want to get off the treadmill.

 

Before The Rose Ceremony – Interviewing beyond Selection

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Join Dawn Burke and I for our October webinar (sponsored by the good folks at HireVue) – “Before the Rose Ceremony: How to Become an Employer of Choice Through Your Interview Process”, where we’ll explore the following and compare it to the meat show on the Bachelor/Bachelorette:

  1. What pre-interview, pre-phone screen features subconsciously tell a candidate that you’re different from your competitors and help you plant the initial “why you want to work here” seed
  2. The 3 things that need to be present in your initial outreach to a candidate to prevent their BS meter from exploding (aka momentum killers).
  3. 5 Key Features of the live interview process at your company that sell your culture as a Great Place to Work – regardless if you hire the candidate or not.
  4. FOT’s Top 7 Interview Questions for uncovering great info and selling the candidate on your company as an employer of choice – they won’t even realize you’re doing it (and you’ll get great info as a result).
  5. SEND IN YOUR LESS ATTRACTIVE FRIENDS TO GIVE APPROVAL! (That’s FOT in this case.)  We’ll end with a simple audit process that you can use to determine if your interview process is contributing as much as it should toward your company being viewed as a destination of choice for candidates.

Join us for “Before the Rose Ceremony” and install a couple of the interview process features we discuss, and candidates will start to view you less as the Motel 6 and more like the Ritz.  Or wherever it is that feels like an upgrade from the Motel 6.  Maybe the LaQuinta?  The W?  You tell us.  The point is when you say no to people and they still love you, you’ve arrived – just like the bachelor or the bachelorette.  We think the way you interview candidates can help you accomplish that in the recruiting process.

**This program,ORG-PROGRAM-124798, has been approved for 1.00 (General ) recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the HR Certification Institute.

REGISTER TODAY

5 Steps To Becoming the Most Liked HR Pro Ever!

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The old adage “I’d rather be respected, than liked” was made up by people who didn’t have any friends!  And it’s been perpetuated for centuries by HR Pros who didn’t think it was professional to have friends in their organizations.  “I’m not their friend, Tim – I’m in HR – there is a reason we lock the doors to our department.”

I look it this a bit differently – make friends first.  That is all.  No, “then” or “after that” – just make friends.  Do you know why HR Pros don’t make friends with employees? Yes – you do – because “We don’t want to fire our friends!” or “We need to remain impartial” or “I’m stupid” (I made that last one up – which if your stupid you probably didn’t know).   The reality is, we do things attempting to stop stuff that probably will never happen.  When is the last time you truly had to fire a friend?  “Never – because I don’t have friends that work for me!” No, really, when? Most of us would say, “Never”.

The problem with not allowing yourself to be friends with non-HR employees is that you lose a major source of influence within your organization.  Also, it sucks eating at your desk everyday.  And you decrease your eventual dating pool. But, really it’s the influence!  So, here are 5 steps you can do to be more liked and make more friends at work:

1.  Stop being a know it all.  HR people act like they created Congress – everything is legal this or legal that – stop it – be normal. 99% of stuff HR thinks might happen, doesn’t happen – trying to mitigate 100% of risk in your organization makes people hate you – and it doesn’t help you do your job better.

2. Make a fool out of yourself once in a while.  You’re not that important that you have to act like Mr. Manners all the time. Having employees laugh at you, because you did something silly, foolish and/or crazy – will help them believe you might be normal.

3. Hang out with the smokers! Let’s face it smokers are cool and know everything that goes on in your organization – you want them as friends.  I don’t smoke because it’s gross, smells and will kill you – but I love hanging with smokers – especially if they have one of those voice boxes they talk about of!

4. Go out to Lunch.  Preferably not with the smokers because that isn’t appetizing at all.

5. Kiss another employee on the mouth at the office Christmas party! Kidding, just making sure you were paying attention.  Don’t do this – unless you’re really drunk and want to leave a legacy. Here’s the real #5 – Spend 50% of your time away from your desk – visiting employees and hiring managers – even the ones you don’t like.  This will change your professional life forever.

Being liked in HR is important it allows you to do your job in a much more efficient manner than when people don’t want you around.  It’s not about respect – you can have both – and given the choice of having respect and being hated, or having respect and being liked – well, let’s just say I hang out with smokers.