3 Lessons We Can Learn From the Democratic Convention
By Ron | August 28, 2008
We in HR worry a lot about our stature in the organization. You have seen the posts about the trials and tribulations of HR getting to the “table” and staying there as equal participants. Too many times, we feel that we are the “voice in the storm,” or being viewed as an overhead function.
Well, I think we can learn from the pros. In watching the Democratic Convention the last few nights, I have been in awe of the flawless execution of a well-orchestrated plan and I am sure that we will see great things from the Republicans next week too. Here are 3 lessons I got from this week’s entry:
1. Suck it up for the good of the team and do it with elegance and grace. No matter what you feel about Hil and Bill, they came to the aid of their party.
2. Stop thinking of ”politics” as a dirty word and start using it effectively. Create a plan on how to win over the rest of the organization. Pick influential people to be on your team and have them go out and do it.
3. Give inspirational talks, speeches and presentations. Use humor, drama and hoopla as necessary. Win the hearts and minds of everyone on the corporate team.
Topics: HR | No Comments »
HR at Home
By Ron | August 27, 2008
“You treat the people at work better than you treat me,” said my wife a number of years ago. These words sunk in; she was right. “You Always Hurt the One You Love,” is the title of and old song and another reminder that I’m not always the best Human Resources Manager at home.
I know why too. The stakes are higher at home and the emotions run high. This is no excuse, of course.
Today, I try to practice the human relations and communications skills at home, as I do at the office. I use the 2 Communications Rules I talked about yesterday, plus I use one of the most important tools of all - it is called: Using the PAUSE button.
She talks, I listen. I hear something that I don’t like. I don’t react. I pause. I don’t react. Life is good because I’m being a good HR Manager at home.
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The Only Communication Techniques You’ll Ever Need
By Ron | August 26, 2008
Whether on the job as a Human Resource Professional or talking with your Significant Other, you can be the best communicator around if you follow these 2 rules:
1. Maintain or Enhance their Self-Esteem. We may not be responsible for how other people feel, but if the other person walks away from our conversation feeling “less than,” we have failed to communicate. Somtimes we can be condescending in our tone and not realize it. Rule #2 can give us insight on how to implement Rule #1.
2. Listen with Empathy. They provide whole day seminars on this subject. Listening takes discipline. To be able to listen to another person without formulating responses in our head is a challenge for most of us. Having empathy means that we acknowledge how they feel.
One more time, my advice is simple, but sometimes hard to do. Awhile back, I made a small card with these 2 rules on it and kept it in my desk drawer. When someone would enter my office, I would crack the drawer open and look at the card. I had to wing it at home and this is when I got in the most trouble.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
Forget My 7 Presentation Pointers - Talk From Your Heart
By Ron | August 25, 2008
While reading one of my favorite blogs this morning, “Know HR,” I was thinking about the zillion presentations I’ve suffered through in the workplace.
The one thing you could count on in the electronic industry were countless meetings and presentations. I have always had a hard time sleeping at night, but the minute the lights dimmed and some engineer started showing his slides, I was off to slumberland.
Before Power Point and projectors hooked up to laptops, we had overheads (we called them “foils”). Typically presenters would fill up a “foil” with what looked like a page from the New York phone directory. The presenter would then proceed to read each slide. Power Point just made the phone directory page look prettier, but the presentation was still the same - zzzzzzz.
After many years of being subjected to this abuse, I put together a little workshop on how to give presentations. Here is some of the advice I gave to my contemporaries:
1. Just like when we were in the 6th grade doing a report - have an introduction, a body and a conclusion (the old adage: Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and, then, tell them what you told them).
2. Don’t put more than 6 bullets on each slide.
3. Make the title of each slide like a newspaper article heading: “New Design Will Change Industry”
4. Face the audience.
5. Remember, we can read, so…Do not read the slides to us.
6. You know the subject - talk to us. Engage us - ask questions.
7. End with a flourish (I confess - I borrowed this from Frank this morning!)
Actually, the best presentation I witnessed was by a Marketing VP who didn’t use any slides. He just talked from his heart.
Topics: HR, Leadership, Management | 1 Comment »
Reinstate the 6 Week Vacation in the U.S.!
By Ron | August 24, 2008
Reinstate? What the heck are you talking about Ron? Well, it is true. At one time, every American took off 52 days a year…
When I was a young lad, Sundays were truly days of rest. Everything was shut down. People took leisurely “Sunday drives,” laid around or had picnics. We literally relaxed one day a week (a total of 6 1/2 weeks a year). My father was refreshed and ready to return to work on Monday.
Still dressed in our Sunday clothes, Dad and I resting in the backyard.
Just like when Kennedy was assasinated, I can remember exactly where I was when the change happened - the beginning of the end for lazy Sundays. A new Safeway opened up right accross the street from our church in Salinas, California. The Pastor railed about not keeping “holy the Sabbath.” We were instructed not to shop there. Well, you know the rest of the story.
Now, Sunday is just another day for doing things, running errands, mowing lawns, posting blogs, working on that project… No wonder many of us are stressed to the max, on anti-depressants, sleep deprived, and frazzled.
No, I’m not going to go on a campaign to reinstate Sundays as a day of rest, but I think I’m going to honor that tradition today. Now, if my wife just won’t send me to the store…
Topics: HR | No Comments »
Go Ahead and Throw Out That Baby With the Bath Water
By Ron | August 23, 2008
When “The Secret” was at the height of popularity, you could walk around the company and see Vision Boards everywhere. $100,000 bills were tacked up in cubicles. The dreamers were dreaming. Now, most of the people are scrambling to pay their mortgages. The vision boards are gone and so are the dreams.
Pity. When the fad is over, people throw out the baby, the bath water and the bath tub. Not me.
I’ve been around awhile and I’ve seen these things come and go. I still have a vision board. I also have a mental storeroom full of stuff from every trend that has come down the path. I use these remnants from past programs and books all the time.
Many people are amazed at my insights. I don’t tell them that I just solved a complex communication problem using “transactional analysis” from the seventies or addressed a quality problem using techniques from a “Zero-Defects Program” from the dim dark past.
No, I keep the baby, the bathtub, but I recirculate the water and then I label it with the latest term that is in vogue. They think I’m hip.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
Putting the “Human” Back in Human Resources
By Ron | August 22, 2008
My mother went to college in the late 1920’s. Quite a rarity in those days, huh? Here are photos of my mom and her friends. What’s the common denominator?
The common denominator is the automobile, or as my grandmother used to call it, “the machine.” I have many other pictures like this and it occurred to me one day that they were entranced with this relatively new technological advancement and showed it by posing around it, on it and in it as much as possible.
As I ramble around the world of popular culture today, I see how entranced we still are with technology. HR is no exception. I read the blogs proclaiming new ways to use the web and the new advances in HR Information Systems. It is all good and necessary, but…
But, as I look at these young women in these old black and white pictures, I see people. I see young bright women going to college, embarking on new careers - being on the cusp of something big. The car is only a prop; not the end game.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
5 Ways to Keep the Spark Alive
By Ron | August 21, 2008
When there was still the silicon in Silicon Valley (Fairchild, National Semiconductor, and others were turning silicon wafers into circuits), excitement ran high. I remember a chart which showed all the countless spin-offs from Fairchild Semiconductor. Each new company was a result of a group of engineers with a new design idea and some venture capital money. Working at one of these start-ups was fun. Each operation had a unique personality and culture based on the founders. Legends were born such as, Charlie Spork of National Semiconductor, Jerry Sanders of AMD and Bob Noyce of Intel.
I witnessed this phenomenon and knew there was something magic here. I also saw the growth curve of these companies. As they grew, the original fire turned to cinders. Accountants and other bureaucrats moved in to help run the companies. Although employee relations were still fairly good, a lot of the fun was gone. People forgot when Charlie Spork brought in a goat to chew-up the grass in front of the building. Some of the companies in the valley were bought by big corporations and the names changed and so did the culture. One sad example was Signetics. Signetics was a successful semiconductor company which was acquired by Philips Corporation from Europe. New policies and procedures suffocated the company and the original personality and feelings were lost.
The challenge that I saw for any company was, “How do you keep the spark alive?” Here are 5 things that HR can do to help rekindle the fire:
1. Get the old timers and the managers to tell the stories of the past - keep the lore alive.
2. Include the history in the onboarding process.
3. Reinforce the values and the important parts of the culture unique to the company from day one.
4. Keep bureaucracy to a minimum.
5. Encourage the creation of business units (smaller organizations where people can relate to the mission)
I always thought of Human Resources as a catalyst. In this important role, we can help keep the spark alive.
Topics: HR | No Comments »
When They Don’t Need HR
By Ron | August 20, 2008
Yesterday someone commented about if it was easy, they wouldn’t need us.
I’ve seen it when they didn’t need us.
Anyone who was involved in a start-up activity in Silicon Valley saw it. HR was the last function to be formed. Why? The participants were so excited about giving birth to a new product and a new company, their purpose was enough to carry them through. They didn’t need a recruiter; people were banging their door down to work there. An accountant arranged for group insurance coverage at an appropriate time. The receptionist handled the clerical duties associated with HR. Work was hard, but fun. Everyone pitched in as a team. The stimulating environment was all that was needed to keep everyone motivated.
Then, Phase 2: The product gets released. Customers demand for the product skyrockets. Money flows in. The original feeling is diminished. People problems surface. It is harder to attract job applicants. An EEO complaint is filed. Accidents start occurring on the production floor. I’ts not “easy” anymore. Suddenly, the CEO says, “We need a Human Resources Manager.”
I always loved Phase 1. When I went into the HR field, I had an agenda to work myself out of a job by helping the organization regain the spirit found in Phase 1. I never worked myself out of a job, but I did help rekindle some of the spark from the “old days.”
(to be continued)
Topics: HR | No Comments »
HR’s Easy Button
By Ron | August 19, 2008
You’ve seen the commercials - lady in the store trying to use her Staples Easy Button to pay for her groceries. In HR, I was always looking for the Easy Button since dealing with humans is probably the most complex thing on earth. I’ve seen engineers design unbelievably complex electronic circuits, but they don’t come close to the difficulty of human relations. Circuit performance is predictable; human performance isn’t.
The complexity skyrockets when we place the wrong people in positions, especially wrong managers. How many times have we seen the promotion of a great technical person to end up with a terrible manager?
The HR Easy Button, of course, is to hire and promote the right people. Simple, huh? If we hire or promote people with the management/leadership competencies into management jobs, our job would be simple. Good managers have few employee relations issues in their departments. They hire the right people, set-up a motivational environment, pay their people for performance - my goodness, we could end-up like that Maytag repair man with nothing or no one to repair!
If this really is our Easy Button, why don’t we put 80% of our energy and focus on it? Why haven’t we perfected the staffing process? It must not be easy.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
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