HR Thoughts

I am back from an awesomely superb vacation.  While on vacation, ideas for posts crossed my mind and I jotted them down when I could.

I had one with a working title, "The Real Star." It was going to be about auditions for a cruise talent show that my daughter auditioned for. During auditions, there was a lady there (Brooke) who supported, cheered on and encouraged each of the participants during the rehearsals. Surely, she must be part of the organizers. I was impressed by her engagement, appreciative of her encouraging comments to my double jointed daughter as she displayed her freaky finger tricks, and very surprised when the last audition was called and Brooke walks up to the stage and sings her heart out. Awesome. 

We spent some time on a glacier with a dog sled team
and well, I lost the idea. My next idea came to me during a Ranger presentation as we cruised through Glacier Bay. The Ranger stated that he loves to engage in conversation about Glacier Bay. He hoped that those who listen to him are inspired to ask the questions that will solve an unsolved problem; if he were to leave us knowing just what he knew, we'd be in a world of hurt.

What a way to engage your audience, seek questions and set the stage for learning, sharing and growing. I am going to shamelessly steal his words and I planned to create a post around it and then, before I even had a working title, out the window it went too.

Look at it as trading one type of inspiration for another! 

We are on our second cruise. The Kid's Crew is not as engaging as the first. The food is not as unique, the service is not as impeccable, and the ship is not as over-the-top. I can't find the silverware rolled up in the napkins when I need it. This second cruise is not as spectacular as our first. 

Is it time? Is it experience? Is the second time really ever as good as the first?

It is better. The frenetic pace of the got-to-see-and-do-it-all right-now madness of the first time now makes way for the do-what-you-feel-like-so-what-if-you-miss-the-after-dinner-show calmness of the second time.

Sailing past the surrounding mountains and watching the whales play off the side of the ship as we made our way towards Juneau yesterday was superb. Watching our 7 year-old co-mush a dogsled team across a glacier was priceless.

There's a new blog in town. Lance, aka Your HR Guy, has started a multiple author blog for HR professionals - HRM Today.  I clicked through quickly today (I am on vacation!) and the presentation is awesome. Content is filtering in and the contributors are starting to sign up already. Check it out

Pilots. Until this week, I had not thought much about piloting. In fact, a pilot was someone who flew a plane. Get me to Seattle, safe and on-time, so we can pick up our rental and head northwest.

Our pilot this week did what he was supposed to do and we made our first visit to the Olympic Peninsula. We made our first (very long overdue visit) to friends in Port Angeles. We had our first view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the house on the hill.

The view of the Strait of Juan de Fuca is superb, even on a cloudy day. Ships and boats of all shapes and sizes are moving through here throughout the day. Some stop for a bit but almost all move on through to Seattle. Every ship has a pilot. Not an airplane pilot, a boat pilot.

Pilots. Pilots are the people who meet the ship in the harbor, via the pilot boat, board it, and guide it safely through the waters. In this area, the pilots guide the ships to Seattle. Every ship is either required to pick one up, or certify (if a US ship) that they have a trained pilot on board. Pilots have extensive maritime experience, undergo training, achieve certifications and are very well-qualified. There is a waiting list, a professional organization and a little bit of "who you know." Pilots do what they do to the tune of $300,000 - $400,000 per year. What other cool things did my guidance counselor forget to tell me about?

It is really very intriguing. We had the opportunity to ride the pilot boat out to meet a Japanese freighter. The Japanese crew dropped out a rope ladder as we approached. We pulled up alongside the ship and held the pilot boat steady while the pilot climbed the ladder. We watched until he was safely inside. This harbor has not lost a pilot off the rope ladder and into the water yet. Superb. Stopping the pilot boat on a dime and pulling a tight 360 - very cool!  

Pilots. New to me yet they have been around as long as there have been ships traveling on seas. 

I am heading out on vacation, really.

Dedicated exercise buff that I have become (3 days per week), I figured I could (should) get some cardio in before I left. To the gym I went, thinking about how much better I would feel when I was done. To the treadmill I went, running to the news.

To the weights the lifters went, lifting to their partner's grunts, groans and motivations. Most of the time, I hear without reaction. Some of the time, I look to see what the heck is going on. This time, however, I heard something that I think will remember, draw from and share. I will remember it because it was exactly the way I was feeling as I finished up my run (and it sounds so much better than what I was thinking!). I will draw from it because it is how I find myself feeling at different times in my work day. I will share it because I think others find themselves feeling the same. 

So, without further ado. . . . . .  "let your air catch up to you."

Take a hike. Take a cruise. Take a vacation.

The family is heading northwest to Seattle and then on to Glacier Bay. The 10 day forecast is 56 degrees and chance of rain (hmm, sounds just like Minnesota) and there is a dog sled with our name on it. Have a great June and I look forward to catching up with everyone when I return. 

There is only so much time in a day. You prioritize on the fly. You dedicate time to the things that you must do. You delegate the rest. Right?

Try this. Plan a vacation. Not a long weekend. Not 5 days. Not even 7 days. Go for 14 days. Go for more. Plan a vacation long enough that forces you to identify the tasks to be delegated out during your absence. 

Identify the appropriate staff member(s) to assume responsibility and begin the hand-off a week before you leave so you are available for questions. Set up rules for email messages that can be routed to your junk folder or permanently deleted while you are out. Begin this a week or so before you leave.

Get my drift?

Go to work the week before vacation. What types of things are you doing now that you are not reviewing and recommending approval/disapproval of advanced leave, FMLA or leave without pay requests; reviewing results and adjudicating initial and final background investigations; or compiling information for the director's monthly worker's compensation report and tracking performance monitors?

There are some tasks that have been delegated directly to you and can not be delegated beyond you on a regular basis. Then, there are there others. What would happen if you did not take those back when you returned from vacation? What would happen if you provided staff the tools, training and authority to assume these responsibilities on a regular basis? What if you unsubscribed from the messages and news groups that filled up your junk folder over vacation?

How awesome of a delegator would you be then? More importantly, how much more effective could you be?

Distracted managers not focused on the needs and expectations of employees is a major source of dissatisfaction for employees. Kudos (and my appreciation) to those committed to maintaining positive employee relations.

There are many things a manager can do to maintain positive employee relations. One thing a manager can do is to respect, acknowledge and appreciate their employees. Another, make sure you're as nice in email as you are in person. 

• Respect the impact an email can have on an employee. When an employee sees an email from their boss, their blood pressure actually goes up, no matter what the content of the mail is. But, understandably, blood pressure went up even more when employees got angry emails from the boss, or emails from a boss they perceived to be unfair. If you get in the habit of sending little bombs throughout the day, you will create a truly deadly workplace.
• Be consistent. People read a lot into emails because the emails are devoid of the nonverbal cues we use to judge a message delivered in person. If you usually send very cordial ones, and then send a cold one, people who depend on you will spend hours analyzing it. The more consistent you are, the more people will focus on your content and stop wasting time trying to figure out subtext.

Not sexy enough, I know, but being nice in email can help you to avoid legal landmines. Email transmissions are considered "documents," and can be used against an employer in a lawsuit in the same way as any written letter or memorandum. Moreover, deleted messages do not just "go away," but remain in the company´s electronic archives.  Deleted messages can be recalled, and an improper message can come back to haunt an employer months or years after the message was first transmitted.

Ready to fire off a strongly worded email, tip the balance of power in your favor and enjoy the illusion while it lasts?  Don't. Step away from the computer.

I expect more from a leader in my organization. You should too.

Committees. Committees come in all shapes and sizes. Committees vary in their effectiveness. 

If I had a friend who was going to put together a tool to assess a committee's effectiveness, what would she want to include in it? Ok, in the spirit of full disclosure,  I do have a friend and she has been tasked to develop a tool, really. Here is what I have gathered so far and could use your ideas for other ways to measure the effectiveness of a committee:

AN EFFECTIVE COMMITTEE WILL understand its purpose and effectively work toward its goals • have open communication among members • listen to all points of view and make decisions that work for all • not be dominated by one leader or member • strike a balance between group productivity and personal needs • establish a process to evaluate and make changes • provide an opportunity for members to work collaboratively • have access to information they need to make recommendations.

Any and all ideas are appreciated AND an actual tool will be recognized with a super honorable mention and many, many thanks!

Want to become your boss's favorite? Alison Green (aka Ask a Manager) U.S. News & World Report column this week suggests 10 habits that, if cultivated, will have your boss showering you with lavish praise.

I value staff who embrace #9: Speak up when you're unhappy and especially value those who use Panera Bagels with honey walnut cream cheese to express their thoughts regarding #10, If she's a good boss, tell her. Speaking of which, haven't had any bagels lately, hmmmm.

Seriously, this is one to keep at arm's length to facilitate discussions with your staff members, assist new supervisors with setting reasonable expectations for their staff and to do a soft check on yourself as you manage upward.

The way your employees feel is the way your customers feel.

These eleven words sum up the bottom line of a newly released book by author Sybil F. Stershic, Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most. A Guide to Employee-Customer Care. 

Ms. Stershic, an internal marketing expert with over 30 years experience, provides a guide to impacting two critical relationships: the relationship between employees and customers and the relationship between employees.

How does she do it? She lays out a road map and provides a audits, actions plans and numerous examples of what other successful companies are doing. One that caught my attention is the Marriott Hospitality Gold Star Program described in the chapter, "Strengthening the Internal Service Culture." In it, guests are randomly selected and asked to identify the hotel associate they found most helpful. These associates, and the guests who recognized them, are both rewarded. But the program does not stop there. Rewarded staff are then asked to identify three associates from the "heart of the house" (i.e. those behind the scenes) who were most helpful to them and these associates are rewarded too. Super!

Wondering how your employees feel about your organization, department or team? Ask them. Probe with questions such as:

• Why are you working here rather than another company?
• What would cause you to end your employment here?
• What drives you crazy about working here?

This book is a great resource for HR professionals, internal marketing managers, and supervisors who want to make a difference within their company, department or team. Regardless of your perspective or the state of your internal marketing efforts, you are sure to find a tool, tip, or golden nugget that can assist you in taking another step forward in your efforts.

This book is on tour and hitting the web. The tour started with Burns Blogs Attitude and made its way here. It will continue with a different stop around the web each day:

• On June 4th, Chris Bailey will be posting a review on his blog Bailey Work/Play: The Alchemy of Soulful Work
• On June 5th, Toby Bloomberg of the Diva Marketing blog will be posting an interview with Sybil.
• On June 6th, Becky Carroll, the blogger behind Customers Rock! will be posting a review and the results of an interview with Sybil.
• On June 9th, Paul Hebert will be posting a review on the blog Incentive Intelligence.
• On June 10, 2008, Phil Gerbyshak will be posting an interview on the blog Slacker Manager.

Check in with these hosts throughout the week. More information about this new book is available on the WME Books blog, the book page on the WME online store and at the Quality Service Marketing blog. 

The 34th Carnival of HR is posted at the Pennsylvania Labor and Employment Blog with a compliment of excellent postings on interesting topics. This carnival offers good stuff for all of us to consider as we address today’s challenges. So, what are you waiting for?

Celebrating differences. I do it every day with my daughter.

She is creative. I am not. First grade is not quite over yet and she lets me know she wants a new class of kids for second grade class because she wants to meet new friends. I seek out the familiar. I am not quick with my responses; my "should have said" conversations are brilliant!. She is very quick.

I have been working with a personal trainer and my sessions are about over. I am trying to decide if I should continue. It is fun, I can see results and I am not at all confident that I will get to the gym without someone to hold me accountable. So, I was talking to my husband about this the other night and ended with a long drawn out, "I don't know what to do. I am sooooooo perplexed!"

Without a beat, a moment of hesitation, or a blink of the eye, my loving daughter comes back with, "Mom, does perplexed mean fat?" 

First grader, fifth grade reading level, she knows exactly what perplexed means and the look on her face was priceless. Her eyes were big, her mouth was in a huge smile and she was laughing out loud inside, trying not to burst. Just wait until you get a little older sweetie, just wait.

Remember, I have baby pictures. I know things. 

Emily doesn't send me birthday cards anymore.

I am not not sure exactly when the cards stopped coming but I am sure I know why. I did not reciprocate. We were friends in college and after graduation I was an officer in the Army, traveling, making my own money, giving orders and taking names (!); I had a bunch going on. It sort of was all about me.

I find that now too. With work, raising a kid and what not, I don't take (or make) the time to do much beyond what I do with or for my family. I do things for myself but they are pretty well limited to exercise, coloring my hair and blogging. I gain a lot from writing and while I do think about the audience and wonder if what I have to say will be interesting, that really is not the main driver of what goes onto each page. It sort of is all about me, again.

Or is it? Could it be that I am creating something for others?

My daughter's baby book ended at age 7 and I recently cracked the cover on a black moleskin bound journal. This journal will be where my husband and I can continue to write notes, thoughts, or advice to the young lady our daughter will grow up to be. The kid is aware of it and, as a matter of fact, a picture she drew of our most recent trip to the water park is the only thing in it yet.

Could this blog be a partner to my little black journal? The thoughts reflected here clearly are different than those that will be captured at home. Will they be of value or interest to her? To anyone other than me? Maybe, maybe not and the thing is, the thought had not even crossed my mind until I read posts on G-Town Talks and weblogg-ed.  Both speak to how their ideas will live on through the work they create on-line, through their writing.

Right now it is a blog. Whatever it is next, this medium continues to intrigue me with its potential for moving forward, capturing the past and making connections, all at the same time.

Hey, I wonder what Emily is up to these days?

Integrity, or lack thereof, is the one thing guaranteed to keep me awake at night.

There are times when what I have to say must be heard. There are times when I just want another person to know that I know they are not being truthful. There are times I want to take my stand, have my say and to h*** with the consequences. There are times when I choose to take this on. There are times when I do not. Is it wisdom that guides me when I choose to save it for another day?

Or am I falling down on the job?

My nephew Erik, a Vancouver, Washington firefighter, has developed a veterans mentorship program, which has now officially become a Washington state non-profit organization called Boots to Boots.  The purpose of Boots to Boots is to assist military veterans with the sometimes difficult transition to civilian life, and also to show them that the life experience they gained while serving our country makes them excellent candidates for serving our communities as firefighters.  This is a journey that Erik himself took after his time as an Army Ranger.  It was a fairly long, competitive process and his purpose in developing Boots to Boots is to give the veterans a leg-up in pursuing a career in the fire service.

Boots to Boots has taken off! 30 Vancouver firefighters have volunteered to be mentors for veterans from all branches of the military, many of whom have already taken the opportunity to use the program to begin practice testing for fire service jobs; the Mayor of Vancouver and the president of the Bank of Clark County are on their Board of Directors; the fire chief for Vancouver Fire Department has given tremendous support and has also spoken to fire personnel across the country about the program; Erik's union donated $1000 to develop our first run of t-shirts to begin fundraising; and he has support from the local VA. Erik and Boots to Boots have already been featured on KPTV Channel 12 news and in The Columbian newspaper:

http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/03/03032008_Brothers-in-Boots-Embracing-veterans-skills.cfm
 
Erik and his board of directors would eventually like to see this program spread across the region, or maybe even further. Boots to Boots is free-of-charge to the veterans.  Their non-profit attorney has assured them that their 501(c)(3) status should be approved. When that happens, they will begin applying for grants.  In the meantime, they have started to fundraise. Their hope is that in reaching out to those they know, and hopefully through them reaching out to an even larger circle, they can begin gathering some funds and spreading the word. 

Please feel free to contact them if you would like more information about Boots to Boots.  Their website is under construction at www.BootstoBoots.org, their email address is BootstoBoots@gmail.com and their mailing address is Boots to Boots, 13504 N.E. 84th Street, Ste. 103-307, Vancouver, WA 98682.

Many people have a connection with a veteran, and would like to make some sort of contribution to veterans' futures. The feedback they have received from the veterans themselves - those actively participating in the program and those simply calling to say thank you  - has been inspiring and heartwarming.

The carnival is back in town at The Career Encouragment Blog - check it out!

Are you using the Internet to its fullest potential for recruiting?

I am not. It is too much like trying to find a needle in a haystack. With so much going on in my day, I need to prioritize my efforts on tasks that will produce more than frustration. Somebody, somewhere, take my hand and lead me through the madness. Give me a road map, point me in the right direction and make some sense out of the madness for me.

JIm Stroud from The Recruiters Lounge to the rescue. Jim has been working steadily and diligently to develop a training guide for internet recruitment. Do you want to know:

• How to search Google, Yahoo and Live for free resumes?
• How to take a job description and create multiple search strings from it?
• How to automate your resume searches so you can (literally) source resumes while you sleep?

Then Resume Forensics is for you!  

Resume Forensics makes its debut today, Monday, May 12, 2008. Resume Forensics is a guide on how to leverage the internet to find free resumes and passive jobseekers on the web. It is over 100 pages and it is priced at $0.00.

Jim's is giving this away. He will collect the feedback from readers and then use that information to make the next version of his book (Resume Forensics 2.0) even more relevant and useful.

You are invited to download a copy at http://therecruiterslounge.com/rf/rfbeta.pdf. I will be downloading it today with many thanks to Jim (my needle in a haystack finder!) for sharing this with us the way he has. Make it worth his while.  Review it, blog about it, and more importantly, provide him your feedback. 

Good leaders worry about their people. Good leaders worry about their part in employee dilemmas. Good leaders lose sleep at night.

I don't know about you, but I hate conflicts at work. I, like the Chief Happiness Officer, have come to realize that conflicts are inevitable. The very best and most efficient workplaces are not the ones without conflict, he says, but those who handle conflicts constructively. For me, handling conflicts constructively = resolution. Now, how often does that work for you? Knowing that it doesn't work that way (it should, shouldn't it?) doesn't make sleep come any easier for me. 

So, what's a good leader to do?

Jean A. Hollands, the author of Red Ink Behaviors, offers this advice: good leaders will sleep well if they plant a seed. Good leaders will sleep well if they remember that they, too, are only human. Good leaders will sleep well if they do the best that they can; have their own support team; and appreciate their own courage. 

Good leaders want to make it right. Good leaders, even the best leaders, can't always do that. So, plant a seed. Have a good night sleep and come back at it in the morning. Or not.

If you are interviewing a Millennial and find your thoughts shifting away from the applicant and to yourself, specifically to concerns about your ability to manage a Millennial, read this post at Great Leadership. 

In particular listen up . . . being a good leader to Generation Y means being a good leader – period. When Millennials were asked, “How would you describe your dream boss”,  the responses were good management skills, pleasant and easy to get along with, understanding and caring, flexible and open-minded, respects/values/appreciates employees, good communication skills.

Still worried about your ability to effectively manage a Millennial? Stop that right now. Look at this as an opportunity for your growth and development and a chance to refine the tools in your tool box. Step outside your comfort zone.

The Millennials are coming to you - be not afraid. Oh, how much you (and your staff) will gain.