Photo courtesy of Carol McDaniel

I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Daytona 500 NASCAR race on Sunday courtesy of OrlandoJobs.com. It truly was a lifetime, bucket list experience that I’ll never forget. OMG, it was fun – and LOUD.

Being ever the Whisperer though, I couldn’t help but watch everything that was happening around me and how people behaved. The audience, I guess was pretty typical. Never having been to a car race of this type before, I rather expected that fans would be mostly young men. Not true. Yes, a ton of guys (which made the lines incredibly long for the restroom, which I thought was hilarious, BTW, as it’s usually the other way around!), but really most of the audience were middle-aged couples who were out for the day. Lots of what I call trick-or-treating too, at all of the booths in the exhibit area leading to the track. I was amazed at how long the line was to get free snack-size boxes of cereal. Who knew?

But what really struck me was during the race itself. I don’t know if you follow NASCAR or watched the race, but the cars are traveling in excess of 220 miles per hour and literally stack up one against the other for drafting purposes. Well, this strategy often ends up in one car losing control and crashing either into another car or the wall. That’s a lot of what makes NASCAR so exciting. Fortunately, most of the time no one gets hurt, but the car gets trashed. These cars then limp off to the pit where miraculously they are put back together in mere seconds and then tossed back into the race.

Know what the team uses to put the car panels and bumpers back together?

You guessed it. Duct tape.

Which got me thinking about how HR is really the duct tape of an organization.

Consider. We are the essential element in making the organization “stick” together. Yes, pun intended.

More and more we see HR moving from the transactional, compliance-focused function to a strategic partner with expertise in people and human behavior. Without a good understanding of people and how they behave, especially in situations of constant change, NO organization will be successful.

Good HR is about observation and analysis behind the scenes, compiling data and then creating the processes to create or maintain organizational integrity, coherence and congruence. We use processes to inform, influence and define behavior and culture.

Essentially, any other organizational resource depends on the human resource.

So, HR keeps things together. Just like duct tape.

HR and Duct Tape is a post from: The HR Whisperer

I’ll tell you, I’m a list person.  Can cover a lot of ground with a bulleted list.  Found a great list the other day posted on the fridge at Webster University where I serve as an academic advisor and associate professor entitled, A Passport for Life by Regina Brett.  Thought the idea of it was really cool and of course, went to check it out on web.  Found out that Regina is not 90 years old as the printed article states and her passport has 50 things on it (for turning 50), not 45.

That’s okay.  Still liked the list and thought it would be great to convert it to a passport list for employees.  Employees could use a little direction now and then, don’t cha think?

So here goes for the top 10:

1. Working here isn’t always fair, but it’s still pretty good.
2. Save for your retirement – the 401k won’t do it for you.
3. No one is in charge of your happiness – you are.
4. Everything can change in the blink of an eye; think merger. Have resume ready.
5. If a work relationship has to be secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
6. What other people think of you IS your business; get feedback.
7. Make a friend.
8. When it comes to going after the right things, don’t take no for an answer, but…
9. You don’t have to win every argument; just pick the ones worth fighting for.
10. Show up and make the most of your job!

A Passport for Employees is a post from: The HR Whisperer

I was listening to the radio the other day on my way home from the ever-present swim team car pool drive (an hour and a half round trip, ugh) and heard the radio jockeys talking about Valentine’s Day and an article on they found on the Internet related to “64  Ways to Say I Love You.” 

Of course, I went to check it out and thought it was great fun – and something that would be worth translating into showing the love for employees or volunteers.

You see, we don’t do that enough.  And its been worse lately as folks are stressing over the lack of jobs and the lack of a decent economy.  Recognizing employees (and each other’s) contributions takes work – strengthening the relationship takes work – and retaining employees takes work.

So, in honor of Valentine’s day, here’s my list of 64 ways to let employees know you care. 

64 Ways to Show Employee Love

1. Be courteous.
2. Encourage physical and mental health.
3. Have fun. 
4. Don’t compare employees to each other.
5. Give your full attention. 
6. Trust. 
7. Truly listen to what the employee is saying (no multi-tasking!).
8. Be respectful.
9. Share some humor.
10. Be interested in the employee’s interests.
11. Be a cheerleader. 
12. Highlight the employee’s accomplishments.
13. Bring in pizza.
14. Ask for input.
15. Let bygones be bygones; embrace the present – and the future. 
16. Accept the fact that nobody’s perfect. 
17. Play hooky together. 
18. Show interest in the whole person, not  just the at-work person.
19. Catch more flies with honey than vinegar – be nice.
20. Apologize. 
21. Live by the Golden Rule.
22. Better yet, the Platinum Rule-do unto others as they like…unto them.
23. Tell the employee you appreciate him or her. 
24. Take a group picture and post it in your office.
25. Encourage risk-taking and from that, learning.
26. Talk about the day.
27. Laugh.  Best de-stressor outside of prescription drugs.
28. Pick your battles.
29. Have a vision and share it with inspiration.
30. Don’t be competitive; it’s a team effort.
31. Forget about labels – everyone is unique and special.
32. Don’t forget about the commonalities, though.
33. Have an ice cream sundae contest.
34. Watch a great teambuilding movie together like Remember the Titans.
35. Write a “you did an outstanding job” note once a week and mean it.
36. Share company war stories or historical (hysterical) tales.
37. Keep your word.
38. Have them plan the work and then work the plan.
39. Go to a seminar together.
40. Encourage them to join a professional association.
41. Bake cookies in the microwave and share.
42. Be a good idea-bouncer-offer.
43. Show your gratitude; you really can’t do the job without them.
44. Consider employees’ perspectives.
45. Respect personal lives and personal time.
46. Praise publically.
47. Correct privately.
48. Be a person that others want to be around.
49. Take pride in the employee’s large accomplishments.
50. Take pride in the employee’s small accomplishments, too.
51. Share a sincere compliment about the employee in front of other people.
52. Make time for the employee.
53. Recognize that everyone makes mistakes.
54. Give $1 lottery ticket, because they are a winner no matter what.
55. Give space when they need it.
56. Communicate a lot.
57. Be honest.
58. Ask for feedback on your leadership style.
59. Do something constructive with that feedback once you get it.
60. Teach tolerance.
61. Reconnect – do a fun team building exercise.
62. Give the benefit of the doubt.
63. Tell them how important they are to the success of the team and of the business.
64. Be a servant leader.

 True leadership does not dominate – it cultivates.
– HR Whisperer

64 Ways to Show Employee Love is a post from: The HR Whisperer

It kills me, just kills me, when I read about HR-related issues in BusinessWeek magazine.  I know  it is a business-related sheet and all, but they don’t always make me feel all warm and fuzzy when they start talking about the human side of things.  It’s not often that an article will catch my eye, but in this case one did and so is the inspiration for this week’s blog. 

The October 5^th article, “The No-Cost Way to Motivate,” by Patrick Lencioni who also wrote The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, focuses on the fact that no matter who you are or what you do, everyone wants someone to be interested in them, both personally and professionally.  Lencioni says:

                “One of the greatest causes of misery for employees is the feeling that the person they work for isn’t interested in who they are and what goes on in their lives, personally or professionally. Regardless of how much money people make and whether their jobs suit them, if they feel anonymous they’ll dread going to work – and return home deflated…a manager needs to be interested in employees from a professional standpoint too, not only in job details, but also in motivation. And a big part of this is helping people figure out why their job matters to someone, somewhere in some way large or small.”

The famous Hawthorne Studies of 1924 found that if managers paid a more attention to employees and seemed to care about them, it raised morale and increased productivity.  That was followed by an additional 80+ years of research that essentially told us the same thing.  Then in 2008, Towers Perrin did an employee engagement study that found that  firms with the highest percent of engaged employees increased income 19% and earnings per share 28%. 

So it seems everybody is getting on the bus.  Even BusinessWeek.  So why don’t we see it in practice then?

As the HR Whisperer, this particular concept is one that I have been preaching about for years.  To be motivated at work, everyone needs what I call the EDA:  exercise, discipline and affection.*  You’ve got these, then you’ve got engagement.

Want to motivate employees and get them engaged?  Then use EDA:

Exercise – Give employees the opportunity to improve their skills and capabilities.  There are a ton of ways to do this, such as through education and training,  job enrichment or enlargement, coaching and feedback.  Provide opportunities for folks to have input into decision-making and to be innovative in their thinking or problem solving.  Exercising the brain keeps people interested and involved.

Discipline – Work with employees to set goals and strategies to achieve those goals.  The discipline of planning the work and working the plan creates that line of sight for achievement.  Additionally, provide challenging work assignments that not only broaden skills, but can serve as career advancement opportunities.  This will demonstrate to employees that stick-to-itness will reap rewards.

Affection – Employees continually tell us they want senior management interested in their well being and good relationships with their supervisors.  Lack of a good supervisor relationship is the number one reason people leave their jobs.  In Social Intelligence and the Biology of the Pack Leader, I talk about the importance of the supervisor-employee relationship.  To me, this is the biggie — and Lencioni agrees.

Of course there is no sure fire, quick fix.  Motivation depends on the individual’s perception of what is a valued motivator to them.  But even BusinessWeek tells us that if we pay attention to our employees and work to meet their needs, we’re going to get a pretty decent return on our investment.  And that’s a no brainer.

*I must give credit to Cesar Millan, whose catch phrase for creating a balanced canine is “exercise, discipline, and affection.”

Exercise, Discipline and Affection is a post from: The HR Whisperer

Living in Florida has really gotten me accustomed to thunderstorms. I was driving in the car with my husband the other day and we were looking at these gorgeous fluffy clouds that were stacking up on top of each other. My husband, the wonderful scientist that he is, put on his meteorologist’s cap and educated me on the concept of convergence.

CAUTION: THUNDERSTORMS AHEAD!

The University of Illinois defines convergence as “an atmospheric condition that exists when there is a horizontal net inflow of air into a region. When air converges along the earth’s surface, it is forced to rise since it cannot go downward.” This happens a lot in Florida. Since the state is a peninsula, it gets battered with moist cool air coming in from the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts. When that air interacts with the heated land mass it forms those beautiful stacks of clouds called cumulonimbus. If the convergence is strong enough, which it is during the summer months in Florida, those cumulonimbus clouds often end up turning into thunderstorms.

Of course this discussion on convergence got me thinking once again about human behavior. What if a team has people with both “hot and cold air,” who are converging at a rate that makes them clash, causing massive thunderstorms?

Now, when we talk about convergence in an organizational teaming sense, it means that the group has come together to complete a task in which the impact that each person has on the task and on the team is profound. We could also define this as synergy – when the outputs are more than the sum. Bruce Tuckman is probably most famous for his “form, storm, norm, perform” model, in which he illustrates the development of teams. He says that when teams are in the storming stage of development they are not yet a team as they are internally focused or driven by personal agendas. It is when the group moves into the “norm” stage, where social and other rules have been established, that the group transforms into a team. At this point things do become very powerful and electric – and this spark of energy is just what the organization needs.

But what if this convergence is more like Florida’s thunderstorms rather than a Fourth of July celebration?

Here are some things you can do to help move your group from storming to norming:

• Educate the team on the concept of social/emotional intelligence; that while they cannot control what other people do or say, they can control how they respond. When we are aware of how our emotions control our responses and how our responses control our behavior and ultimately our success, we are more apt to modify our behavior to be more effective. It’s the concept of calm, assertive energy.
• Make sure there is a team mission that clearly identifies what the team is to do and how it will go about doing it. A good team mission will provide clarity, delineate a reason for being in existence and align members around a common goal. Once the mission is in place, you can start dealing with the issues of trust and integrity to help develop and strengthen the teaming relationship.
• Make sure that everyone on the team has an individual role to play. People want to be a part of something bigger, but they also want accountability. When they know what individual success means, they will be more apt to exert the effort to contribute to the team goal as well.
• Develop some team ground rules or a working agreement. If everyone agrees on a certain way of behaving, individuals are more apt to adhere to those roles since they had a part in making them.
• Serve as a coach, no matter what role you play in the team. Most often the coach role is reserved for the team leader or facilitator, but I personally feel that when we all have accountability for building the team, we can build that trust through our demonstration of compassion and empathy for other team members. It takes patience and courage, but you can help move the team from storming to performing through the consistency of your behavior.
• Don’t let the conflict stay in the clouds. Help the team leader or facilitator draw out and resolve differences before they get to critical mass. Conflict in teams is normal; it’ how you deal with it that is important. Not acknowledging conflict just makes things worse.

Remember, in a team sense, thunderstorms can be a good thing.

It’s Not Nice to Fool with Mother Nature is a post from: The HR Whisperer