5 Things That Demonstrate You’re Not Getting Paid Enough

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I was reading an article recently, it was one of those “Best Places To Work” type of articles.  Since I run a company, I’m always looking out for good ideas on how to take care of your employees without spending a dime – unfortunately – “Best Places” companies that make these lists usually don’t give you these type 0f ideas!   What you get from “Best Places” articles are all the over the top crap – gourmet cat food for your in cube pet-mate, free liposuction for your spouse and discounted tattoo eyeliner coupons.  I would love for my company to be on the top of every single “Best Places” to work article – but we probably won’t.  I care too much about my employees to make that happen.

What?!?

Yes, you read that right – My greatest weakness is I care too much!

It costs an organization a ton of money to make a “Best Places” list – not in actually applying to make the list (oh yeah, they are chosen randomly – you have to apply – the Top 100 Greatest Places to Work isn’t really the Top 100 Greatest Places to Work – it was the Top of the companies that applied for the award Greatest Places to Work), but in doing all the silly crap they do, so they sound like a great place to work.  Many of the best places to work, will never be on a list, because they are spending their time, money and effort – on their employees!

Here are some things that “Best Places to Work” companies and You Not Getting Paid Enough have in common”

1. If you’re company has unlimited gourmet free breakfast, lunch and dinner provided – you’re not getting paid enough.  Cut that crap out and pay me $10K more per year – I’ll bring in my own Greek Yogurt and granola.

2. If your company pays to have your laundry done and your house clean – you’re not getting paid enough.

3. If your company is taking you on luxury vacations and dinners that cost more than your monthly home mortgage – you’re not getting paid enough.

4. If your company spend more on marketing themselves as a great place to work, than on your employee development – you’re not getting paid enough.

5. If your CEO flies to work on a daily or weekly basis – you’re not getting paid enough.

So, how do I show my employees that I care and that we have a great place to work?  I don’t waste money on things that ultimately become a negative when I need to take them away because we aren’t making the money for our shareholders.  All great places to work, eventually become average or crappy places to work – because sustaining luxury programs that you put in place when your doing well – become negatives to engagement when you tighten your boot straps.

Pay your people fairly. Meet their needs as adults. Treat them professionally and with respect.  That’s a great place to work.

#16 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

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

The #16 Rap Lyric That Shaped my Leadership Style comes from Coolio off the 1995 Dangerous Minds soundtrack, from his song Gangsta’s Paradise.  This might be the one song every 40 year old white guy can still sing word-for-word at the local Holiday Inn bar karaoke night – but that still doesn’t take away how great of a song this is.  Ranked #38 in VH1’s 100 all time Hip Hop songs, it was by far Coolio’s biggest hit.  They Lyric:

“They say I need to learn, but nobody’s here to teach me. If they don’t understand, how can they reach me?”

I guess they can’t; I guess they won’t. I guess they front.  That’s why I know my life is outta luck – Fool! (see 42 – still got it!)

I’ll give you some extra time with this one, because I know you all had to listen to the full version – besides Eminem’s Lose Yourself – is there a better song associated with a movie? You know a song is good when it’s better than the movie!

This lyric reminds of how we onboard in our organizations.  In HR, this is something I think we can always get better at, and we tend to just try and process this down so that onboarding takes as little time as possible.  When in truth – onboarding should be an ongoing process that takes weeks or months, and HR ensures the great talent we bring into our organizations actually gets everything – I mean EVERYTHING – they need to be successful.  We owe it to them – and to often we throw them a set of keys, a laptop and a phone and say “Go!”

Somehow we feel like – “hey, we’re paying you a salary – you should know what to do”, but they don’t  – we need to teach them.  Raw talent doesn’t mean you’ll be successful in our unique organizational dynamics and culture.  I’ve seen way to much great talent leave organizations – where the organization feels like the person was a failure – even though they came in as a Rock Star, and they go on to their next position and they are a Rock Star.  You didn’t reach them – in fact, you probably didn’t even put in the effort to reach them.

Remember – we don’t hire idiot, worthless people.  Every person we hire – comes in with the highest expectations. They have good experience, good energy, good background – we ensured that.  If they fail – it’s on us – not them (mostly).

Recruiting is Worthless

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Paul DeBettignies recently had an article over at ERE – Where Have All the Recruiters Gone – which gave me the idea for this post.  In Paul’s post he wonders why recruiters are networking face-to-face anymore. I think many of us in the recruiting field who have been in the field pre-internet, probably wonder this and many more things as we look at how the industry has totally transformed over the past 20 years.  A person today can get into recruiting, sit at a desk, have great internet skills, marginal phone skills and make a decent living.  They probably won’t be a great recruiter – they probably won’t make great money – but they’ll survive – they’ll be average or slightly above.  It’s why the recruiting function in most organizations gets a bad rap!  In corporate circles I’ve heard it called “worthless” many times – and for some this is their reality.

Recruiting is Worthless, if…

…you’re a hiring manager and you never have face-to-face conversations with your recruiter when you have an opening, and when you don’t have an opening.

…you’re recruiters believe it isn’t there job to find talent, talent will find them.

…your organization believes it’s the recruiting departments job to find talent.  It’s not, it’s the hiring managers job to ensure they have the talent they need for their department, recruiting is the tool that will help them.  This “ownership responsibility” is very important for organizational success in ensuring you have the talent you need.

…your recruiting department acts like they are HR – they aren’t – they are sales and marketing.  Too many Recruiters, in corporate settings, don’t want to recruit, they want to be HR – which makes them worthless as recruiters.

…if your recruiters have more incoming calls then outgoing calls.

…if your recruiters believe their job begins Monday thru Friday at 8am and ends at 5pm. The best talent is working during those times and most likely won’t talk to you while they are at work.  That’s not a slam on you or your company – they are great employees, it’s what we expect from a great employee.

…your senior leadership team feels they have to use an “executive search” company to fill their higher level openings, because our recruiting department “can’t handle it”.

…if they are victims – “it’s not my job”, “we can’t do that because…”, “marketing won’t allow us to do…”, “our policy won’t allow us…” etc.

…if they just send hiring managers resumes of candidates that have come to them, without first determining if the person is a fit for the organization and a fit for the hiring managers position – before sending them on.

…they haven’t developed the organizational influence enough to change a hiring managers, hiring decision.

Recruiting is worthless if in the end they have failed to show the value of their service back to the organization.

Recruiting is the one department in the organization, besides sales, that truly has the ability to show ROI back to the organization, yet so few of us take advantage of the opportunity we have!  There is nothing more important, and have a bigger competitive advantage, than our organizations talent – and oh by the way – THAT IS US! We control that.  Recruiting isn’t worthless, unless you make it worthless.

 

 

Are You Drowning In Your Position

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You know the crazy thing about drowning?  It doesn’t look like you’re drowning! Read this from Mario Vittone:

  1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
  2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
  3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
  4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
  5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

Take away the eventually water death – and this seems eerily familiar to some of our employees…

As HR Pros/Hiring Managers/Supervisors we have people who are drowning in their positions right now – but we can’t “see” them drowning.  Employees have natural things they do in terms of self-preservation, much like some one who is truly drowning.  They begin to do: put in extra time at the office, they seem a little to stressed for normal work, they make things bigger than what they are (this gives them an excuse in case of failure), etc. – it gives you an impression “they’re on top of it” – but they aren’t.  They tend not to ask for help – they don’t want anyone to know they’re in trouble – they can handle it on their own.

How do you spot an employee who is going under?

1. Look for employees who are disengaging with key relationships they need to have to get their job done.  Why?  Employees who are drowning – will disconnect from those who will be the first ones to spot them drowning – key hiring managers or peers from other departments – which buys them time from their own supervisors finding out they aren’t staying afloat.

2. They become defensive or blame shift – when this isn’t usually part of their normal behavior.  Another mechanism they use as a life preserver –  “it’s not me – it’s them!”

3. Drowning employees tend to cling to each other.  Rarely will you see a drowning employee hanging with a top performer (that’s one more person who will see they aren’t making it).

How do you save an employee who is drowning?

That’s even tougher than spotting them!  Because it takes you confronting them, and not allowing them to cop-out, most HR Pros/Hiring Managers/Supervisors find this very uncomfortable (hello Performance Management!) It basically takes you jumping into their role – deep – and pulling them out.  Most of us don’t like getting our clothes wet and ruining our iPhone – so we try and throw them things to help instead – additional training, words of encouragement, EAP, discipline…sound familiar?  When what they need is some full life saving – to push them up for air and take them to shore (you’re sick of metaphors at this point! – actually do the job with them for a while, so them how it should be done).  You still might decide when it’s all done to let the person go – they just can’t handle the position – but some will actually learn from the experience and turn out to be really good.

#17 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

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

The #17 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style comes from the Notorius B.I.G. (Biggie) in the song You’re Nobody from his 1997 album Life after Death, which was released 15 days after he was killed in a drive by shooting.  Talk about living your music!  They Lyric:

“You’re nobody til somebody kills you.”

I don’t take this literally, although Biggie did, to me this was figuratively meant to say – you need to be prepared that you’re going to have haters and you don’t need to take this negatively – it means you’ve made it.   Every organization – yes, every one – has politics.  Usually the larger they are, the more politics are involved.  But one thing you can count on – if you’re trying to make change in an organization, especially within HR, you’re going to have some folks wanting to “kill” you!

A leader needs to assume this, not be surprised by it, and actually embrace it.  It’s alright that someone in your organization wants to “kill” you, it means you’re digging into the right stuff!  People always assume that the opposite of “Love” is “Hate” – but that’s not true.  The opposite of “Love” is “Apathy”, it’s not caring enough to even give that person another thought.  Only when you truly love someone, can you hate them – hate comes from being irritated and you only get irritated when you care about something.

When I know someone in my organization “hates” me and wants to “kill” me – I know they care – I like that person!   I want people around me who care – that feel passionate about what they do – so much so – that they will try to politically “kill” me!  Most people aren’t comfortable under those circumstances – but I am – because I have that belief, that you’re nobody until somebody wants to kill you.   Organizations get better through change, change is hard, change is painful, change will make people want to “kill” you – but change makes us better.  As a leader you need to be comfortable with a target on your back – buy helmet and bullet proof vest and make change happen!

 

10ish Questions with Cynical Girl – Laurie Ruettimann

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So, I completely stole this idea from Erica Moss’s 10 Questions with Laurie Ruettimann: HR Chick and Blogger at The Cynical Girl, partly because it was a great idea and partly because I know Laurie, a little – we jumped off a building together – Laurie’s Jump(notice Laurie’s Mission Impossible style landing, My Jump – and I know some other HR type Dudes who know Laurie (Steve Boese, William Tincup, Lance Haun, Matt Stollack and Kris Dunn) who have snarky humor like mine and would love to ask Laurie questions – but not the type of questions that Erica asked!

Erica’s post on Laurie was great – they both played it straight – it was nice and safe.  I thought we could have a little fun with Laurie, if she was game – and she’s almost always game!  So, here’s my 10 questions for Laurie Ruettimann – to protect the guilty I won’t tell you who asked which question:

1. How often do your interns write your posts?

(LR) Not often enough. They would be better if I had a few interns dedicated to writing about Human Resources and recruiting. Because I’m short-staffed, you get shitty posts about cats and hoodies.

2. Do you ever get tired of being sarcastic and/or cynical?

(LR) Tiger momma gotta wear her stripes, yo. Honestly, I am more of a hyper-introspective Debbie Downer than I am cynical or sarcastic. Much of my negativity is turned inwards. And yes, it’s a burden. Years ago, I told my husband that I wanted him to say ‘I love you’ more often. He laughed. He thought I was being ironic. And maybe I was. I don’t even know, anymore. So, uh, yeah, my tough-girl act gets old.

3. What will your next blog be called? Cynically Punk or The HR Cat Lady?

(LR) My next blog will be called ASK THE BLONDES. I’m working on it right now, actually. I have a writing partner. You just got the scoop. (That how we role at The Project – Sometimes you have to slap the interns around to get the best news – but it’s always worth it!)

4. If you were the head of HR at Jos. A. Banks (Laurie’s favorite Men’s store – Holla Sponsors!), how would you find people that can innovate the “Buy one suit – get three suits, five shirts and eight ties for free” discount space?

(LR) Easy. I’d look to China. Cheap labor makes anything possible. Just ask General Electric or Apple.

5. What role in HR could disappear tomorrow and no one would notice?

(LR) Payroll. In fact, its all but disappeared. We get paid through the power of computers and magic. (Do you hear that sound? That’s the silence from all those Payroll speaking engagements Laurie just gave up!)

6. F – Marry – Kill:  Jennifer McClure, Sarah White and President Obama?

(LR)  Marry Jennifer McClure because it’s easy to be with her. She brings me treats. F*%k President Obama because he’s a black guy. Kill Sarah White but only because she likes recruiting and HR technology a little too much for my tastes.

7. How do you reconcile the fact that you are neither punk nor cynical – but just a cat-loving former HR practitioner?

(LR) I used to be young and fun. Now I’m a hardcore punk rock feminist anarchist who drives a Volvo and does Pilates just to have a hobby. Sometimes I binge eat Ben & Jerry’s and think about my 20s. Thanks for reminding me of my sad and pathetic adulthood, Timmy. (Editor’s Note: that question wasn’t from me – you’re welcome!)

8. If you die, can I be your ghostwriter for The Cynical Girl?

(LR) You can be my ghostwriter now. I’m short on interns.

9.  From you professional HR perspective, what was the deal with Skipper and Gilligan?

(LR) I never watched that show but I’m pretty sure he was doing her in the copier room. Wait, do corporate offices still have copier rooms? (Editor’s Note: Clearly you never watched the show – they were both male stuck on a island after a 3 hour tour)

Thank you Laurie, tell the interns they did a wonderful job answering the questions and for the photo they sent!

Thanks again to Erica – for such a wonderful idea!

Check out Laurie and her writing at The Cynical Girl – she’s a fantastic writer and I love her take on all things HR and Corporate!

Why We Pick Bad Leaders

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Have you ever worked for a boss that was horrible?  That’s an easy question to answer, isn’t it!  The person came immediately to your mind (for my staff reading this, if I came to your mind first, your fired! I tease – you’re not fired – just come see me after your done reading this…) Almost all of us, probably 99.99% of us, have worked for a boss/leader we thought was just God awful.  It’s the perplexity of leadership.  I like to blame the entire leadership book industry.  Someone gets a promotion to a leadership position and they instantly get online for the latest leadership babble that’s being sold by some idiot that was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time of a successful company and now she or he is going to tell us how to be a great leader using 7 simple steps!  BS!

But, really, why do we hire such bad leaders?  CNN had an article recently that looked into this:

“The short answer is, we focus on all the wrong things, like a candidate’s charm, their stellar résumé or their academic credentials. None of this has any bearing on leadership potential. And despite claims to the contrary, even a candidate’s past results have little bearing on whether the promoted individual will succeed once promoted.

At best, a “track record” tells only half of the story. In a new position, the candidate will have to face new obstacles, deal with a new team, manage more people introduce new products and do it all without a clear road map.”

Ok, so we aren’t focused on hiring the right traits that makes a great leader.  The reality is, in most of our organizations, we hire “next-man-up” philosophy.  “Hey, Jill, is the best producer in the group, congrat’s Jill! you’re now the next boss!”  About 90% of leadership hires happen like this – most of you will attempt to call that “Succession Planning” – but it’s not – it’s “convenience planning” and it’s bad HR.

Can we all agree to one thing (this statement is a setup because I know we can’t agree to this!)?  Being able to do the “job” (meaning the specific tasks of the functional area you’re a leader for) has very little to do with one’s success at being a leader.  Can we?  And yet, it becomes the first thing we focus on when going to hire a leader.  “Well, how good of a coder were they? How do you expect them to manage coders if they aren’t the best coder?”  You’ve had this conversation haven’t you!?  Most of the best leaders of all time, had very little functional skill of the leadership position they were successful in.  What they did have were these things:

  • Integrity
  • Passion
  • Courage
  • Vision
  • Judgement
  • Empathy
  • Emotional Intelligence

We pick bad leaders because we don’t focus on the traits above.  It doesn’t matter if the person can do the job of those they are managing – great leaders will overcome this fact very easily.  If that’s your biggest worry, they probably won’t be a good leader anyway.  When you have a great leader – the conversation never goes around whether the person can do the job of those they manage – it’s a non-issue.  They can lead and leaders know how to engage those who can do to make their departments great.

#18 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

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

The #18 Rap Lyric that Shaped My Leadership Style comes from the St. Lunatic himself Nelly and from the song #1 off his 2002 Nellyville album.  Here’s the lyric:

“Two is not a winner, and three nobody remembers. What does it take to be number 1?”

Whether it’s in business or my personal life – I don’t play to be 2nd place.  I go with the old adage that “2nd place is the first loser” or Ricky Bobby’s Dads philosophy “if you’re ain’t first, your last”

This isn’t something I’m proud of, but I once six packed (definition of six pack in volleyball terms – hitting your opponent in the face with a hard spiked ball) my aunt at a family picnic volleyball game when I was in college.  I like to win.  Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say – “I hate losing”.  You see winners get to do what they want – at least that’s what I tell my 3 sons – “We’re Sackett’s and we’re winners – because winners get to do what they want!” (I imagine I’ll be pulled into many adult therapy sessions of my grown children as they progress through life and therapist will want to see where this all came from!)  We’re just big hairy American winning machines.

Now that you all feel bad for my wife, let me get into why this is an important leadership trait. I truly believe that losing doesn’t teach you anything but how to lose.  You can look at sports teams, businesses that are struggling – it doesn’t matter – when you get use to losing, losing happens more often – you get comfortable with losing. I never want to be comfortable with losing.  “But how does this have anything to do with being a good leader?”   If you’re a leader in an HR function – at one point in your career – you’re probably going to take over a department that is considered to be “losing” in the organization – and you have to turn it around.

The only way you turn around a losing streak – is to start winning.  In an organization that means finding things to win at – even small things – and do them everyday – keep winning.  I’ve taken over 3 recruiting departments in my career that were considered losers by the organization – they were broken and they were use to losing.  We immediately stopped what we were doing – which was just causing more loses.  We went out and started delivery what hiring managers needed – but only to the most critical openings in the organization.  Very narrow – but doing it very well.  We were winning with a small few.  This caused other hiring managers to want us to do the same, we gained momentum – we got use to winning.

Leaders know if they are leading a losing department – as a decision maker in your organization – you have to be able to determine if they are comfortable with losing – if they are, you need to make a move.  Selecting people who hate losing and have to win in your organization will change culture almost faster than anything.  If you ain’t first, you’re last.

Make HR Suck Less

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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!

Hey Managers! Here are a Few Ways to Make HR Proud

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Guest Post today from Connie Costigan who is the Director of Marketing Communications for Halogen Software.  This is not a sponsored post – this guest spot was given because I think Halogen is one of the few HR Software companies that get Talent Management, plus Connie is a good writer. Check it out:

I admit it. If I read one more book, blog post, or article on how to… motivate, engage, inspire, be a better leader, get results through my people… I might pass out from exhaustion. And it’s not that I’m not passionate about these topics.

It’s just that as a manager — not an HR pro — working in the talent management space, I probably review a lot more material on these subjects than most.

And so… I want to do it all — test every reasonably sound management practice I’ve ever read or heard about. In the past year alone my physical and virtual “management” bookshelf has become so full my brain can’t contain it all…. Thinking Fast and Slow, Drive, The Carrot Principle, All In, The Rules of Management, an HBR Management Tip of the Day, my awesome “Leader as Coach” training binder, FOT and the FOT contributor blogs, a slew of other great HR sites… it’s never-ending.

I know HR peeps, I know. This isn’t an issue for a lot — if not most — of your managers. You spend an inordinate amount of time babysitting them, trying to protect them from themselves, trying to get them to be stewards of your talent programs. And hoping they won’t screw up things that you care about — like closing that elusive candidate faster, improving engagement scores, reducing your voluntary turnover metrics, getting a decent ROI for the leadership development program you just rolled out… your list is endless too.

So, as a manager who wants to get better so I can make my team even better, I’ve decided to focus on just 5 key management mantras I can remember, to move the fly wheel bit by bit, and make my HR team proud. Here’s a rundown, and some of the resources I use for each.

Lead with “Why”. Some very smart people have taught me that the best leaders start with “why”. That means nurturing a culture of belief with my team that begins with why the organization exists (not just what and how we do it — but why!) Then they’ll understand why we’re going to do a, b and c to support it, and they’ll be inspired to come up with a brilliant x, y and z to help achieve it. So before kicking off a project, or assigning work, I explain the rationale and try my best to tie it back to the big “why”.

Understand Motivation. Yes Dan Pink has it right. There IS a surprising truth about what motivates us. But I’m not a mind-reader and I’m not going to waste my time guessing. If I care enough — and I do — I’ll ask. So I’ve started to use this Motivation Self-Assessment Worksheet with my team to figure out whether achievement, affiliation, autonomy, power, security or intellectual stimulation are their biggest motivators . (Shout out to Henryk Krajewski over at Anderson Leadership Group for sharing the worksheet). I try not to typecast and assume a team member will always be driven by the same motivator every time, but I do keep these in mind when considering assignments, projects, or how to inspire passion around an idea. And sometimes, if I can’t quite figure out their key motivator on a particular issue, I just bulldoze right over motivation, and push on to what’s best for the business. Because that’s my job too.

Foster Accountability. I think about accountability a lot. How managers should hold themselves accountable and jointly own team goals — achieved or not. How each of my employees’ goals is linked to our corporate objectives, making them accountable for those as well. How we’re all accountable to help deliver on our organization’s mission, to live our values. There’s even an element of accountability in connection to our development opportunities. If we’re investing in growth and development, and strengthening key competencies, then the team knows they’re responsible for putting their learning or new ideas into practice. Our internal commitments — to each other, to other departments, to our customers — are all about accountability. There’s no room for finger-pointing and excuses. We share an obligation to do as we say we will, and here effective managers go first. It builds trust. It builds engagement. It supports long term success.

Sustain a Culture of Recognition. I’m not talking about random ‘atta-boys’, where I run around saying ‘good job’, ‘good job’ about all kinds of work. I’m talking about recognizing the great effort and results that I want to see repeated. This is very specific and ties back to leading with why. When I give recognition for a job well done, I try to be specific about the behavior and to tie the result back to what it meant for the customer, for the business, for the team. The experts say it’s that very precise context that managers should strive to recognize. I try to be specific, and heartfelt. That can be a boon to motivation when done right. Thanks to Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick for the awesome volumes of material they’ve published on this front.

Have the Tough Conversations. When something isn’t working right — it can be a behavioral issue, a competence issue, a goal achievement issue, whatever — I need to address it… soon. So I tell myself: “put that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach aside and deal with it.” Constructive feedback shouldn’t be saved for the performance review. It’s a no-brainer. Managers should KNOW this because it’s a fundamental tenet of “managing.” If something has gone off the rails, or could, a tough conversation has to happen. And managers need to be prepared before having one. I use two great resources to help me. The first one is the brain child of Kris Dunn and Tim Sackett actually. I was lucky enough to collaborate with Tim and Kris on this topic last year for a webinar — “The 5 Faces Managers See During Performance Reviews,” and Kris posted a great synopsis over at the Kinetix website. It helps classify the typical employee profiles that a manager might face in response to feedback during the appraisal process. But since more often than not, I’m providing feedback outside of the appraisal cycle, I also like to use a framework from Jamie Resker over at Employee Performance Solutions — The 10 Most Common Responses to Performance Feedback and How to Respond to Them. Understanding these reactions and what to do if confronted by them helps give me the confidence to initiate an important conversation, rather than sweep it under the rug (a.k.a. be a lame manager.)

There you go. My top 5 day-to-day mantras for leading and managing. HR pros — you’re never a shy bunch — what else should or shouldn’t be on this list?