The Secret to Being Happy at Work

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We’ve all been sold a really harmful lie, by a lot of people.  That lie is:  To be truly happy at work, you must do what you love (or some variation of the same theme). It’s complete garbage that is usually told to you by an ultra-rich person (or celebrity) who can do anything they want.

Someone who really doesn’t have to earn a living because they have a spouse earning a living for them or someone who just flat out got lucky, right place, right time, and does something they actually love.  I know, I know, “Tim, you create your own luck!”, said by the same idiot who’s wife is a brain surgeon and allows her deadbeat husband to be a “writer” at home.

Still, most of us define our happiness like this:

Step 1 – Work really super hard.

Step 2 – Really super hard work will make you successful.

Step 3 – Being successful will make me happy.

I hate to break this to you, being successful will not make you happy.  It will allow you to buy a lot of stuff, you’ll probably have less money arguments and you might even feel good about your success, but if you’re not happy before all of that, there is a really good chance you won’t be happy after to gain success.

Let’s start with this concept:

Work Success ≠ Happiness

Have you ever met someone working a dead-end job, a just-not-going-anywhere type of job, but they are completely joyous?  I have.  I envy those people.  They do not define their happiness in life by the level of success they’ve obtained in their career. Their happiness is defined by a number of other things: are their basic needs met, do they enjoy the people they surround themselves with, do they have a positive outlook on life, etc.  These individuals do not allow the external world to impact their happiness.

Their happiness is derived from within.

In HR I’ve been forced to learn this because I’ve had people try and sell me on that Engagement =’s Happiness which is also a lie.  I’ve had incredibly engaged workers who are very unhappy people and very happy people who were not engaged.  I’ve found over time, I can do almost nothing to “make” someone be happier.

I’m an external factor to their life.  Don’t get me wrong, as a leader, I can give praise and recognition, I can give merit and bonuses, etc. While that might have a short-term impact on an employee’s happiness, it’s not truly lasting happiness that comes from within.

So, how can you help someone find their happiness? 

I think we have to start realizing that you don’t have to ‘work’ at something you love, to have happiness at work.  Putting work into this perspective of life is key. I like what I do a whole bunch, hell, I blog about it! But if I really thought about it, I don’t ‘love’ it.

I love my family.  I love floating on a lake on a warm summer day.  I love listening to my sons’ laugh in pure joy.  I find my happiness in many ways, only part of which I gain through my career. My secret to happy work is finding happiness in a number of aspects with my life.  That way if I’m having a bad day at work, or a bad day at home, I still have pockets of happiness I can adjust my focus to.

What is your secret to being happy at work?

5 Things HR Leaders Need to Know About Developing Employees

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I think we try and deliver a message in organizations that all employees need and want to be developed.  This is a lie.  Many of our employees do want and need development. Some don’t need it, they’re better than you.  Some don’t want it, just give me my check.

Too many of our leaders truly believe they can develop and make their employees better than they already are.  This is a lot tougher than it sounds, and something most leaders actually fail at moving the needle on.

Here are some things I like to share with leaders in developing their employees:

1. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time” -Maya Angelou.  I see too many leaders trying to change adult employees.  Adult behaviors are basically locked. If they show you they don’t want to work.  They don’t want to work.  Part of developing a strong relationship is spending time on people who are not a waste of time.

2. People only change behavior they want to change, and even then, sometimes they’re not capable of it.  See above.  When I was young in my career, I was very ‘passionate’. That’s what I liked calling it – passionate.  I think the leaders I worked with called it, “career derailer”.  It took a lot for me to understand what I thought was a strength, was really a major weakness.  Some people never will gain this insight.  They’ll continue to believe they’re just passionate when in reality they’re just really an asshole.

3. Don’t invest more in a person than they are willing to invest in themselves.  I want you to be great. I want you to be the best employee we have ever had work here.  You need to be a part of that.  I’m willing to invest an immense amount of time and resources to help you reach your goals, but you have to meet me halfway, at least.

4. It’s usually never the situation that’s pissing you off, it’s the mindset behind the situation that’s pissing you off.  Rarely do I get upset over a certain situation. Frequently, I get upset over how someone has decided to handle that situation.  Getting your employees to understand your level of importance on a situation is key to getting you both on the same page towards a solution. Failure to do this goes down a really disastrous path.

5, Endeavor to look at disappointment with broader strokes. It’s all going to work out in the end.  It’s hard for leaders to act disappointed.  We are supposed to be strong and not show our disappointment.  This often makes our employees feel like we aren’t human.  The best leaders I’ve ever had showed disappoint, but with this great level of resolve that I admired. This sucks. We are all going to make it through this and be better. Disappointment might be the strongest developmental opportunity you’ll ever get as a leader, with your people.

As you get ready for 2017 and you have big plans for employee development in the new year, keep these things in mind. Development of adult learners, your employees, is extremely complex. You want to help them better their weaknesses when in reality you should really be focusing on how to leverage their strengths, at least this is what science tells us.

Regardless of your approach, employee development fails when you try a one-sized approach to teach all the employees the same. The best employee development is individualized, focused, and driven by the employee themselves.

How to Rehab Your Career in One Step

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I know a lot of people who have had to go through the process of rehabbing their career. You make a bad move for money, or you get fired for some reason that will look bad but doesn’t necessarily mean you’re bad, or you out of work for longer than you wanted to be and now it’s hard to explain. Many, many folks get into these career rehab scenarios.

One of the most common rehabs I see is in college and professional coaching. A major one is in the works know and I think it gives us all a roadmap on how you should rehab your own career. Lane Kiffin was a comet in college coaching! He was a hotshot assistant coach at USC when legendary Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis hired him as his head coach at only 31 years old! A year and half into that job he was fired,

A year and a half into that job he was fired, but it didn’t cost him his reputation on the college level and the University of Tennessee hired Lane to be their head coach almost immediately. Lane spent one year at Tennessee when USC came calling for their head coaching gig and the USC job is one of the top coaching jobs in the country, so Lane left Tennesse for USC.

That’s a lot of movement in a very short timeline! USC-Raiders-Tennessee-USC all in about three years. Lane spent three seasons and two games at USC before he was fired after a game at LAX after being called off the team bus.

So, you now have been given three head coaching jobs, two of which you’ve been fired from, one of which you left in the dead of night after only one season for a prettier girl! Needless to say Lane needed a big time career rehab!

Kiffin’s next move was critical, and he nailed it! If your career is in shambles and you want to fix it, you take a job you know you can flat out kill, at the best company possible, and you stay patient. Kiffin took the Offensive Coordinator’s job (his specialty) at the University of Alabama under the arguably the greatest college coach of all-time, Nick Saban.

Here’s what Kiffin knew before even taking the job. Alabama and Saban are going to win. If your career is in shambles you want to work for a winner. Kiffin would have taken any job working for Saban! Grad Assistant, Quarterback Coach, Receivers coach, academic advisor, etc.! Kiffin knew being on Saban’s staff would immediately elevate him if he just did the job he was hired to do, and was a good soldier to Saban.

He played the part perfectly. Three seasons with Saban, even when he could have left for head coaching job earlier. He stayed patient, he stayed loyal and last week he was rewarded with his next head coaching job at Florida International University. Another brilliant move in rehabbing his career! Make you next big gig one that has almost zero expectations. So, if you fail, no one expected you to do good there anyway, it’s not you, it’s them!

How do you rehab your career in one step? 

Go find the absolute best company and best boss in the world to work for. No matter the job. No matter how low level. And work there under that person until you put enough distance between the bad stuff and the new stuff. Might take a year, might take five years, it’s all relative to how screwed up your career is.

You rehab your career by taking one giant step back, not worrying about the position you get, but really worrying about where and who that position is. Most people do the opposite. They take the first job that pays them similar to their last job, which is usually an awful job where they’ll be set up for failure, and continue the downward spiral of their career.

The Worst Holiday Gifts You Can Give Your Employees

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It’s usually HR’s job to come up with the annual employee gift. Most companies are lame and will do the exact same thing every year. If they don’t give a turkey on Thanksgiving, they’ll definitely give out turkeys at Christmas. If they did give a turkey at Thanksgiving, you’ll likely get a ham or a fruit cake for Christmas.

Can I just say Christmas, instead of the “holiday season” or list all the possible options? My family is Jewish, but we get it, almost no company will ever recognize Chanukah, and if they do, it’s usually and insulting, “Oh, isn’t that the Jewish Christmas?!” Ugh. Most of the American workforce follows some Christian-based religion that celebrates Christmas, so it’s just easier to play along with the majority.

At some point, usually right around the pagan holiday of Halloween, someone in HR will raise the question to leadership, “Hey, what are we doing this year for ‘Christmas’ for the employees?”  What they really are asking is, “How much money are we spending per employee for some gift that looks more expensive than what it really is?”  Depending on the organization, it’s a wide range!

Here are the worst holiday gift ideas to give your employees:

  • Company Logo Portfolio – you know those fake leather bound binders with a legal pad inside. Twenty years ago those were so hot! Now, they’re sad. If you give this out as a gift you should be shot. “Oh, great, thanks, a pad of paper I can’t wait to take a picture of this and post it on my Snap making fun of the lame company I work for!”
  • Company Logo Bag – Any bag really. Duffle. Messenger. Backpack. The only time this isn’t lame is when it’s a really nice bag. Meaning the bag, minus your stupid logo, better cost at least $100 per bag. Your $12 limit per employee just makes any bag you choose, sad. Oh, it’s a Herschel bag, okay, you’re good, send me one to!
  • Any Company Logo Item Your CEO Wouldn’t Buy For Themselves – Let’s face it no one wants a crappy polo shirt, or cheap hoodie, or water bottle made in China. If your leadership team wouldn’t buy this on their own and use it, don’t buy it for your employees. If your CEO is a cheap SOB, ignore what I said above and just skip logo items altogether!
  • Any Mass Pre-packaged Food Items – You know what really sucks? Getting a gift basket of elf-sized trial-sized food items made to look gourmet that were probably made seventeen months ago.
  • A Charitable Gift in “My” Name – I love being charitable. I hate when some tries to be charitable on my behalf. You don’t know what I support! I might hate sick puppies and I don’t want money going to them. That’s not your call. My favorite charity is my kid’s college fund! Are you giving me money for that?

Employee gift giving, especially the bigger your organization is, is a tough game.  You don’t want to be cheap, but if you have 10,000 employees, that one endeavor becomes super expensive! The best thing to do is just stop it all together!

You go through one negative year of people complaining they didn’t get their lead-based painted candy corporate logo candy dish, then the next year no one remembers. Instead, let your hiring managers throw potluck lunches and have some fun. People will remember those, have more fun, and they might actually interact with each other!

 

 

T3 – VISANOW Rebrands as Envoy

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It’s no secret that recruiting technical talent in the IT and Engineering sectors is next to impossible. Because of that, more and more organizations are digging into the aspects of hiring foreign technical talent for positions they have open throughout the world.

VISANOW is a technology that provides an immigration management platform allowing you to seamlessly hire and manage a global workforce with an army of internal staff and attorneys on retainer. VISANOW announced today they are rebranding as Envoy. The comprehensive brand relaunch includes a new logo, positioning, website, content hub (www.worldreadyworkforce.com) and URL (www.envoyglobal.com).

From the press release:

“Nearly 20 years ago, VISANOW was founded to simplify and expedite the arduous immigration process by combining expert legal representation and proprietary technology. As the HR industry and global talent marketplace has evolved, we consistently hear from our customers that they’re seeking an end-to-end global workforce management solution so that they can take advantage of opportunities — wherever they beckon. This rebranding effort combined with the recent release of the latest generation of our immigration management platform underscores our ability and commitment to serve as our customers’ envoy as they build and manage a world-ready workforce,” said Dick Burke, president and chief executive officer of Envoy…

Envoy’s patented cloud-based platform aids companies leveraging both inbound and outbound international talent — offering transparent and simplified immigration services that help save time, money and stress as well as increase efficiency and security. Its features include organization, collaboration, planning and compliance modules that allow businesses to manage their international workforce around the world from one intuitive online platform. Dedicated teams of experienced and knowledgeable immigration attorneys and a global network of local practitioners provide Envoy customers consistent, proactive and personalized counsel. This combination of expert counsel, high customer touch, automation, and transparency offers an unparalleled user experience — driving a net promoter score of 77.

Envoy empowers companies to acquire the best talent regardless of where they are in the world; helps mobilize employees around the world to take advantage of business opportunities; and enables the management of entire global workforces, providing a strategic, proactive view into workforce and financial forecasting and compliance.

Simply, Envoy helps take the fear, stress and complication out of your immigration hiring process. Hiring visa candidates was always a stressor for me in the past because I didn’t feel I fully understood it clearly and I didn’t want to pay high priced attorneys. Envoy can help walk you through the hiring process, step-by-step, for a fraction of the cost of shopping this work to the outside.

Your Dreams Are Adjustable

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I once wanted to be a teacher.  In fact, until I was about 23 years old, I thought that was going to be my future.  Then I taught and found it wasn’t for me.  Not the teaching part, the public education administration political part.  It only took one example to show me public education was fundamentally broken.

The local museum in town had this great exhibit in for only two weeks, by chance my class was studying the same thing, what luck, I thought to myself, the kids will love this! I went to my principal and told her I wanted to take the kids to the museum instead our annual trip to the zoo.  “Can’t do that”, she said, “had to be approved a year in advance, but you can do it next year”. “It won’t be here next year, it’s a traveling exhibit, it’s only here this year.”, I explained.  “Sorry, won’t happen”, she replied. “What if I got parents to do this after school, or on a weekend, and it wouldn’t cost anything?”, I pleaded. “Nope, can’t let you do it, don’t waste your energy on this”, she could see my rising frustration on something that made no sense.

So, we went to the zoo. The same zoo the kids went to every year, for the same tour, same learning, same cage animals, not even trying to get out.

The writing was on the wall for me, right then and there.  These people didn’t really care about educating kids. They cared about following process and procedure. Even if it didn’t make sense.  My dream of being an educator needed an adjustment.

My dream didn’t die, I just found a new way to scratch that itch.  So many people believe if they didn’t reach their dream, that it dies.  I think that’s just an easy way to getting out of doing the hard work.  The hard work isn’t all that you put into reaching your dream. That it actually work you enjoy, you’re chasing your dream.  The hard work starts when you can’t reach your dream, or you decide the dream you had is no longer the dream you want.  The hard work starts the moment you adjust your dream to something else.

I truly believe people should chase their dreams for as long as they’re appropriate. Awesome, you want to play football in the NFL, that’s great! You’re now 38 years old and never made a roster, time to make an adjustment!  How about working in some capacity in the NFL? Coaching? Marketing?

We give people a false sense that it’s alright to chase your dreams forever.  We even give them examples of some 90-year-oldd lady who ran her first marathon, or something like that. We encourage it. Never do we feel it’s appropriate to tell someone, “Hey, maybe it’s time to think about something else”.  Maybe it’s time to adjust your dream.  It’s okay. You won’t shrivel up and die.  It’s just a dream, they’re adjustable.

Reindeer Games: How Santa Ruined Inclusion Forever

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I’m a big fan of what Jennifer McClure is doing with her DisruptHR events! 5-minute presentations that challenge the audience to think about things differently. It’s fast paced, it’s fun, it’s unlike anything else in HR and that’s awesome! If you want to bring a DisruptHR event to your city contact Jennifer through the DisruptHR website and she’ll answer all of your questions.

I can tell you from going up on stage and doing these 5 minutes is way harder to do than a full hour! In an hour you can wander around and come back to stuff you forgot. In 5 minutes you need to have a narrow topic and be tight! It’s so much fun!

This is one my most recent DisruptHR talks. It’s the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and how Santa is like most old white guys when it comes to hiring and selection. I will guarantee you’ll never watch that movie again without thinking about this! Enjoy.

Reindeer Games | Tim Sackett | DisruptHR Talks from DisruptHR on Vimeo.

The Newest HR Certification on the Market! Get it Now!

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If you read my post yesterday on the frustration HR pros and leaders have in deciding between getting their HRCI certification and/or their SHRM certification, you’ll see why I decided to write this!

I’ve officially decided to launch my own HR certification! This will put the rest the unanswered question of, “Which HR Certification Should I Get?” You’ll get mine fool!

Let me lay out my certification designation and marketing position for HR Newest (and Hottest) Professional Certification!

Introducing The HR Kingdom! Where you can now all become HR Queens and Kings!  I mean don’t you already feel like the Queen of HR!? Now you can officially be the Queen of HR, with my certification. Here’s out you get yours:

The HR Kingdom designation certification:

Step 1 – Send me $350 dollars if your female and $500 if your male. If you’re Transgender, you can pick whichever one you self-identify with, or have both, I don’t care, just send the check. It’s less for females because they get paid less. Once we fix this, I’ll charge them the same as males.

Step 2– You will then have a live video Skype call with a member of my court. After this call is completed you’ll be given one of a number of designations as follows:

 – Queen or King of HR – Senior level HR Pro/Leader who ‘gets it’. You know what the heck you’re doing in HR and you’re also not afraid to plan the company picnic and tell the CEO they’re full of shit. You’re a change leader, a silo breaker, and process be damned you get the job done!

– Princess or Prince of HR – HR Pro/Leader who is will eventually get it, but you’re too green to get most of it, but you’re on your way. Most likely you’re a millennial who thinks they get it, but you’ve only been in HR for five minutes and have no freaking idea what you’re talking about.

– Fool of HR – A member of my court has figured out you’re basically working in HR, but you have no freaking clue what the hell you’re doing. You’re basically a fool trying fool everyone you actually know what you’re doing, but we know better.

Step 3 – I’ll send you your official “Crown” to worn anytime you’re working in an official capacity of HR. You’ll also get to officially use the ‘crown’ emoji behind your name on your resume, LinkedIn profile, on your license plate, tattoos, etc. If you’re a “Princess” you’ll get a tiara, if you’re a “Fool” you’ll get one of those funny hats.

Step 4 – You must now officially recognize those other members in the Kingdom by their official designations. So, if you run into another Queen of HR, the official greeting would be, “Hello, your Majesty”, if it’s a fool, “move aside fool!”

I don’t know much, but I know a hell of a lot of HR ladies who will want to be Queens and Princesses of HR! Now that’s marketing your certification to your audience! Give them what they want. Give them something special. Give them royalty!

If you want to be a part of the HR Kingdom, it’s really simple, just send me some cash fools!

Which HR Certification Should I Get? HRCI or SHRM?

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I’m being put in the middle of two friends. On one side I have HRCI. I’ve known HRCI ever since I got certified in my SPHR in 2001. I trust them, they were my first professional designation. They made me feel special.

On the other side, I have SHRM. I’ve known SHRM a bit longer. I trust them, they are ‘the’ professional organization of my profession. They are recognized the world over. To be recognized by SHRM for anything is an accomplishment in the field of HR.

We’ve all been in this scenario before, right?

Two of your friends, who don’t really get along anymore, but you want to stay friends with both. The problem is, both of these friends only want you to be friends with them and not the other. If you have your HRCI – PHR, SPHR and/or GPHR, or you have your SHRM-CP or SCP, or maybe, like me, you have both, you’re kind of being put in the middle of these two friends and being asked to choose.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s confusing. It’s frustrating.

I’ve gone on record to say I won’t have both my HRCI-SPHR and my SHRM-SCP. I said that. I said it was stupid and this past week I got an email from HRCI that my SPHR was up for recertification. Ugh. My initial reaction was, “oh, I need to get online and log my credits and get my certification up to date.”

Then I remembered, why am I doing this? I don’t want two certifications I only want one. But, which one do I want? Which one is going to be the best for my career? Which one is the right now?

That’s the question that neither HRCI nor SHRM has answered for us. I’ve told both of them this, specifically. They actually both feel they’ve answered this question for us (HR Pros and Leaders), but they haven’t. It’s the one question I get most asked by my readers via email, LinkedIn messaging, on Twitter, etc. “What HR certification should I get, Tim, HRCI or SHRM?”

Unfortunately, I also have that same question. My frustration level has gotten so high with this I’m currently thinking I’ll probably just keep both because no one has answered which one I really need, but having both is really redundant. You don’t need both. You only need one. Which one? That is literally the multi-million dollar question for both organizations!

If you’re waiting around for either organization to answer this question, you’ll be waiting a long time. Both have their marketing statements on why you should choose them, but it still doesn’t answer that one question. WHICH ONE IS RIGHT FOR ME!?

I think it’s going to take time for the market to flush out which one it finds to be the most valuable. I believe you’ll see organizations in the near future accept either because they don’t see a differentiation between them. Eventually, both organizations, SHRM and HRCI, will make changes to more clearly differentiate what their certifications will offer those going after each, respectively.

Don’t you just love it when your friends stick you in the middle and make you choose!? Great marketing strategy for organizations, don’t you think…

T3 – The 100 Hottest HR Technologies on the Planet

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My good friend William Tincup (@WilliamTincup) is probably the single smartest person I know in the HR and Talent Technology space, worldwide! That’s saying a lot because this space is filled with smart men and women.

At HR Tech Fest this year, William made a comment on stage that there is roughly 21,000 HR and Talent Technology companies in the world. Seems like a number I can’t even get my head around – I might know 250 or so!

To prove his point, William quickly put together 100 of the hottest companies on the market and shared them on LinkedIn. Since most of you don’t visit LI but once or twice a month, I wanted to share them here as well.

My suggestion is to demo one of these companies each month. One hour of development per month, 12 hours total for the year. Any of us can do this. Pick out the ones that make the most sense to you, in your role. This will change you professionally. You’ll be smarter. You’ll see what your competition is doing. You’ll begin to think more strategically. Yes, just be looking at, and better understanding the technology that is shaping your profession!

Yes, just be looking at, and better understanding the technology that is shaping your profession!

This list is alphabetical. None of these organizations are paying me (yet). If you’re not on it, but want to be, connect with William on the Twitters and just ask.