I’ve been following with great interest all of the news reports regarding the assignation attempt on Rep.  Gabrielle Giffords.  My heart goes out to her, her family, and to all people who were affected by this senseless act of insanity.

In case you haven’t been following the news, Jared Loughner  is accused of engaging in a shooting rampage at a “Congress on the Corner” a town hall-style event in Tucson, AZ on Saturday that left six dead, including a judge, and severely wounded Rep. Giffords, who apparently was the target of the attack.

I read Loughner used a Glock semiautomatic pistol.  Jeez.  Only 22 and he was able to purchase a gun.  Gun-control proponents once again are calling for stricter laws regarding guns and access to them.  Gun-rights advocates once again purport that more regulation would not have stopped the tragedy.

Don’t know a damn thing about guns and really don’t want to.  I honestly don’t believe that guns really have a place in our society now.  But that’s me – and that’s not what I want to blog about today. 

 What I do want to talk about is what I see as one of the biggest issues in the case which, aside from the obvious need for stricter gun permitting and background checks, is the necessity for stronger  mental health policies and practices.

 All I kept thinking over the weekend and into today was the fact that this young man had to have been mentally ill to do what he did.   And it appears that Loughner does indeed have a history of mental illness. 

 Which it also appears was not attended to.

 What President Obama said in his speech on Wednesday in Arizona really struck a chord with me:

 “When a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations – to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless…already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.”

Let’s exercise our self-government and debate the issue by looking at the fact pattern. 

The kid had issues – he had trouble with the law, got rejected by the military, and college officials canned him because they considered him a threat to other students and faculty.  Apparently the college police were called in five timesto deal with Loughner’s library and classroom disruptions.

The college did right in removing him from the campus.  And they did right in wanting him to undergo a mental health exam to prove he was not a danger to others before they would readmit him.

Michael J. Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness said that “the reality is most people with mental illness are not violent.  The issue, frankly, is getting people into treatment. It’s not about guns.”

We may not be able to control the public space, but as HR business professionals we can – and must – control the work space.

There’s nothing wrong with mental illness.  It is what it is.  If it’s in the work space though, we need to make sure it’s diagnosed and there are tools in place to help manage it and any resulting behavior. If you think about it, all health, physical or mental, is behavioral management really.

So, make sure your organization has mental health as a part of its benefits package.  Make sure your organization has some type of employee assistance program (EAP).  Hold stress management seminars for employees; give them a quiet space where they can decompress after a particularly frustrating encounter.  Support work-life balance – and put your organization’s money where it’s mouth is by enacting policies and practices that help employees do just that. 

Also make sure your supervisors document BEHAVIOR, not opinions or personality quirks.  Educate supervisors on the signs of substance abuse, which often will make a person behave differently than he or she normally would.  Teach them how to differentiate between a disgruntled employee and one who is suffering from mental issues.  Even the most even keeled person in the world can experience a mental problem when confronted with a person or event that takes away their control or power. 

Finally, start fostering a work environment of empowerment.  Give employees a level of choice, influence and control they can exercise over the events in their work lives.

After all, it really is about control, self and otherwise.

It’s Not Mental, but Behavioral Management Really is a post from: The HR Whisperer

Photo courtesy of Emma's Teashop for Old Ladies

Didn’t get to go to the SHRM annual conference in San Diego this year (or any year for that matter), so I took it upon myself to try to read as much as I could about all the conference doings and such.  After my bazillionth blog, it hit me.  A LOT of these fine folks are saying similar things. 

 And I kinda got pissed off.

 You know, I’m going to go out on a limb here and respond to all the Bloggers, Tweeters, SHRMers, etc. that are saying that, for HR to be effective, it must hear from its practitioners in the field – not from the consultants, academics, etc. who have been populating the national, state and local HR and related conferences around the country and probably around the world.  Such as from:

 Tim Sackett from Fistful of Talent, “When I was preparing to go to SHRM and deciding on what sessions to attend – my very first impression was “seems like I’ve been here and done this before”  – my next impression was “why does 90% of presenters have either consultant or speaker as their title?  Where have all the real HR Pros gone?”

 Ben Eubanks from Upstart HR, “Some of the sessions I went to were wonderful, and I took a lot of notes (and even wrote about some, too). Others didn’t turn out so well. I went to two or three sessions where the speaker read off of slides or just didn’t hit the topic the session was supposed to be about. That’s fine, when that happened I just left or started talking to someone in the crowd. I did my best not to waste any time during the event…”

 Another comment from Ben, “One of the most profound statements I’ve ever heard from Eric was this: move up, not out. So many amazing HR pros eventually take off and leave the profession instead of continually climbing to be Directors, VPs, and Chief HR Officers. We need more great people to ascend to those positions instead of leaving them to the people with seniority by default (even if they don’t have the skills or passion to be great at it)…”.

 Michael VanDervort from The Human Race Horses, “My big learning was really just a verification of what is an old discussion – HR needs to reinvent itself, and it is the practitioners who need to make that happen through aggressively transforming the way we think and work…”

 Mark Stelzner from Inflexion Point, “Second, I was sadly disappointed by the attendee reaction to a keynote featuring a panel of HR leaders, including Google, Northrop Grumman, Kaiser Permanente and Deutsche Bank. SHRM’s membership is generally not comprised of the senior-most HR professionals from the world’s largest firms, so when they actually take the time to show up, share best practices and offer advice, you damn well better pay attention. Attendees swarmed from the session, first in 2’s and 3’s and then by the dozens. Are you there to listen to Steve Forbes and Al Gore or should you perhaps learn from those who have theoretically arrived at your career destination? And if you did walk out early, you missed a gem from Deutsche Bank’s Conrad Venter when he predicated that HR will be obsolete in ten years if we stay on our current course…”.

Kathy Rapp from Fistful of Talent, “When people ponder the future of HR or ask, “What’s wrong with HR?!” it’s my belief we don’t have enough HR pros who possess the attitude of “Give ME the ball or I want to win the game.”  If there were, we’d have more HR practitioners teaching at SHRM conferences and sharing their own personal stories of achievement and beating the odds.  We’d have more HR folks who move into top leadership roles in their companies outside of HR vs. those non-HR executives who “land” in HR to finish out their careers.  Frankly, we’d have more students coming out of college wanting a job in HR because of the opportunity to build successful business careers and make a better than average living…”

 And, Charlie Judy from HR Fishbowl, “Much of what I see today seems oriented too much toward developing pansy HR subject matter experts and not focused enough on injecting the HR professional pipeline with people who are Ninjas in navigating workplace complexities, sorting through emotional dynamics, acting with agility, and thinking critically.  Without that stuff, you’re just a commodity; after all, anyone can learn to manage a benefit plan…sorry.  If as a profession we are really committed to making HR more crucial to an organization’s value stream, I think we should see stuff like this in the syllabus…”

 What’s the common thread here, people? 

What I interpret is that HR has to change.  No ands, ifs or buts about it.  And I am totally up and down with that.  But change is NOT going to come from the folks who have been doing the same things year after year after year – the HR generalists and practitioners slogging along, waiting until retirement. 

You know, the ones who run to the conference expo hall for all the free swag. 

The ones who leave when senior HR leaders do participate and try to help start the transformation.

Makes me mad as hell.

Here’s the thing – I have consultant and speaker in my title – and guess what?  I was still am an HR practitioner and OD specialist.  As a consultant I get to go into a lot of different organizations and see what’s happening at the macro and micro levels.  As a speaker, I get to share ideas –in an interesting and engaging way – that hopefully serve to inspire and get people to start thinking and doing things a bit differently. 

That is what a teacher is,  you know.  Someone who is focusing on the future and hopefully opening new minds to new ideas.

So, that is what I take from all these comments.  We don’t just need practitioners to share their thinking; we need new minds, new ideas, and new ways of doing things – no matter where they may be.  And that is going to take some serious shaking up and shaping of up of HR.   It’s time.

That’s why I love reading the comments and blogs – new minds, new thinking, new ways.

Makes me aim to misbehave.

Going Out on a Limb, Here is a post from: The HR Whisperer

I was watching an old Cesar Milan rerun the other day on how to train puppies and in it he introduced a new pitbull puppy named Junior.  Now for anyone who watches the Dog Whisperer, you know that his all time fav and constant pit companion, Daddy, passed away in February of this year at the ripe old dog age of 15.

In Cesar’s Way magazine, Milan discusses his selection of Junior:

“…when the time came – about a year-and-a-half ago – I took Daddy along. Any newcomer in our house would first have to get Daddy’s approval. That’s how we wound up at the home of a friend whose female pit bull had given birth to a litter about two months earlier. One puppy, all gray with just a little dash of white on his chest, caught my attention immediately. Some people – the Dali Lama, for instance – have this calm energy. So do some dogs. Daddy has it. And I quickly realized that this little gray puppy had it too. In fact, he reminded me of Daddy when he was a puppy…”

This got me thinking about succession planning.  That is what Milan was doing when he found Junior – preparing for a new Daddy or top dog.

When was the last time you had succession planning on the agenda?

Executive transition is a crucial moment in any organization’s life and should be broached even when nobody’s anticipating a change in leadership.  Think back to 2004 when McDonald’s CEO Jim Canalupo died from a heart attack; the company named Charlie Bell six hours later.  Then a few weeks after that, Bell was diagnosed with cancer and the board again needed to make a replacement.  Sometimes a company has time to prepare – and sometimes they don’t.

Without a plan, an executive leaving can be uncertain, painful and difficult, both operationally and politically.  It’s hard to think strategically when you’re busy putting out a fire.  So, here’s three things to think about in preparing for succession.

Have a bus book.  Robert VanHook and Jackie Eder-VanHook call this the “what to do if the executive is hit by a bus” plan.  A bus book is a compendium of critical information about an organization.  While it doesn’t take the place of succession planning, the book can help an interim executive get up to speed while the organization assesses its next step.  Bus books should include contact information, organizational policies and procedures, financial statements, audits, budgets, board minutes, staff lists and resumes, important contracts, etc.  Remember, it’s a supplement to the succession plan, not a substitute.

Ensure that there is a succession contingency plan. With a plan in place, the organization will have coverage while leadership decides what its next step should be.  The plan should include an assessment of where the organization is, where it wants to go and what kind of leadership it needs to help it get there.  The plan should also include an outline and timeline of succession procedures, a communications plan that discusses who should be told of executive departures and when, a plan for how the leader will be replaced and a financial plan for covering the costs of replacement, whether the successor comes from inside or outside the organization.

Align the succession plan with the organizational strategy from a people as well as a business perspective.  This is key.  There are a ton of examples out there of senior leaders brought into place in a succession arrangement – and failing spectacularly.  Emotional intelligence is just as important as business acumen.  Think of when Sam Walton retired in 1988 and put David Glass in place.  Wal-Mart did great financially, but from an emotional intelligence perspective, not so much.  Same thing with Carly Fiorina and HP.  Great culture shift when she took over the reins, but at a huge cost to employees.  It was no surprise that employees at one of the HP plants passed out Ding Dongs to announce “the witch is dead” when Carly was fired in early 2005. 

Finally, make sure that your succession plan has a process to recruit high potential employees, develop their skills and abilities and prepare them for advancement.  Succession planning is not just for senior leadership positions; it is often the mid- level positions that are the most crucial to the organization in terms of business and cultural success.  These mid-level positions are a great feeder pool and often are ignored in favor of bringing in someone new in. 

Planning takes energy and time but it’s worth it.  Do you have a Junior ready in your organization?

Succession Planning for the Top Dog is a post from: The HR Whisperer

Happy to be back in the blog saddle once again – it’s been a busy month with billable work, so I just know the economy is on the rebound!

Can’t say the same about Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.  Just read a Reuters article this morning announcing that a New York jury decided on $250M damages against Novartis on behalf of 5,600 past and present women employees, only two days after finding that a U.S. division discriminated against women in pay, promotion and pregnancy (Velez et al v Novartis Corporation, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 04-09194).

What were they thinking?

 The jury found that Novartis systematically denied promotions, paid less and subjected 5,600 women to discrimination up to and during 2004.  Court papers said that the women made complaints to Novartis’ human resources division, which were routinely ignored.

That scares me.

We know that employee behavior is often the product of the pressures of the organizational culture.  And we know that organizational culture often comes from a history of “that’s always been the way we do  things around here.” 

 Aren’t we, as HR professionals, supposed to be able to think and operate outside the confines of an organizational culture, especially when confronted with policies or acts that are in direct conflict with what we know to be the best thing for the organization and the employees?  I suspect that the Novartis HR folks “knew or should have known” that this discrimination was going on.  They were probably told not to worry about it by the execs or legal reps as the inequities were” justified.”  Or they too, got stuck in the rut of a bad culture and found it easier to walk away than put up a fight.

What does that say about the HR pros?  It says they weren’t behaving strategically and putting a strong case in play to move toward a gender equitable environment.

 HR Executive Online points out that it may be no surprise that women outnumber men two-to-one in HR, but make over 30% less than their male colleagues.  Former SHRM chairman Johnny Taylor says it’s because “the senior HR roles are dominated by men.” 

Kate Sweetman, principal with The RBL Group and former editor at the Harvard Business Review adds that “it’s terribly ironic because HR should play a key role in helping women and organizations make changes if the ‘leaky pipeline’ to leadership is ever to be patched.”  She adds that “HR needs to create the business case and help find practical ways for gender equity to happen all the way to the top. HR has failed if they don’t have it from top to bottom.”

 So, did Novartis HR create a “leaky pipeline” fail in this situation?

 In my opinion, yes, they did.  Now where is HR going to find the duct tape?

The Leaky Pipeline: Second Edition of What Was HR Thinking?? is a post from: The HR Whisperer

 Toyota’s recent woes with automobile manufacturing defects and the dragging of their feet in responding to the resulting safety and customer issues has left a lot of people feeling cold right now.  This, combined with the record brisk temps we’ve been having anyway  is wreaking havoc on the car buying public and our collective psyche. 

Well, maybe I’m the only one who’s collective psyche is cold.  

 John Rosevear of the The Motley Fool points out that the problem really isn’t so much the safety issues, which are bad and need fixing, but more with the “company’s longtime pattern of responding to problems with a mix of denial and foot shuffling.”

 And apparently it is going to get worse. 

John goes on to say that,

 “Officials in high places in the U.S. are getting cranky…on Tuesday [February 16^th], the Department of Transportation ordered Toyota to turn over documents related to various safety issues.  That may not sound like a big deal, but it is — the DOT is aggressively looking for evidence that Toyota knew of safety defects but didn’t take appropriate action. And if they find that evidence? Oh boy.”

Suddenly, it’s getting hot in here.

Many companies have faced recalls – I distinctly remember Johnson & Johnson’s recall of its Tylenol product  as I worked for The Southland Corporation (parent company of  7-ELEVEN food stores) at the time and in the absence of our area manager had to tell our franchise owners to remove the analgesic from the shelves.  Bad situation.  Good decision.

But the product recall itself is not the entire issue; the more important issue is how the company deals with the recall. 

Which really is trust, isn’t it  – customer trust in whether or not it is safe to purchase the company’s products, and employee trust in whether or not leadership is upfront in walking the talk.

J&J’s doing a great job.  Toyota’s not.

The president of Toyota’s Georgetown, KY plant says company workers are taking the series of recalls personally.

Of course they are.

It seems that Toyota built its reputation on excellence, reliability, customer service and value.  But the company values listed on its website say:  “We believe…in hard work…that good neighbors make good company and vice versa…that the world is getting bigger, but resources aren’t…in the value of diversity – it’s what makes life interesting.”

I don’t about you, but I don’t take away anything about integrity and trust from those values.  Maybe they are implied, but if company leadership refuses to accept responsibility for its mistakes and doesn’t even acknowledge that trust and integrity are important components of doing business, then what can employees believe in?

Now, I’m not saying that if it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist.  But we do know that mutual trust is a critical factor in the employer-employee relationship.  If trust exists, employees have a pretty good idea of what company life they can expect and how the company will behave.  When that trust has been breached, as it has been with Toyota, that relationship changes dramatically.

Or maybe the relationship really wasn’t there to begin with.

The best way to maintain trust is to keep from breaking it in the first place.  Leadership integrity, as demonstrated by behavior, is crucial.  That’s Leadership 101.

So, it really is not just Toyota’s products that need to be recalled; I think it’s also time to recall its leadership.

The Eroded Trust of Toyota is a post from: The HR Whisperer

Yes, this is really me in Steamboat, CO!

With the new year beginning, I started thinking about what the year might hold for the workplace and employees.  Well, I’ll be honest; I was really thinking about snow and skiing.  Those two are at least fun —  I know,  I know.  Unless you have to get on the roof with the hairdryer to de-ice the gutters before the second storm hits and the snow wrecks the house (true story).   Been there, done that.  Sunny Florida beckoned.  I went.  Still miss snow, though.

But it did get me thinking about employees and their needs.  There’s this old adage that says, red sky at night, sailors’ delight; red sky at morning sailors take warning.  Meteorologists and sailors alike know that a red dawn means high water content from an approaching low pressure system.  Simply put, a [snow] storm is brewing.

Well, we have a red dawn coming.  Employers have enjoyed loyalty from their workforce, especially with the down economy.  While 2010 may still be a downer, things seem to be looking up job-wise, which means that employees will soon be on the move again.  There’s a tempest coming and with it new work ethics, attitudes and priorities.  It’s the perfect storm.

But, in spite of record unemployment, a dismal economy, and Gen Y entering the workforce, employees still have the same expectations they always did.  Spherion points out in its 2009 Emerging Workforce Study that despite the significant change workers have witnessed over the past few years, there is surprisingly little change in how they perceive the employment relationship.  While people may stay at an organization because the current economy demands they do so, holding a job and being motivated in that position are two vastly different things. 

So, how can organizations prepare for the stormy employer-employee relationship in 2010?  Three things: 1) concentrate on the social-emotional connection, 2) offer developmental opportunities that link to the organizational mission, and 3) take advantage of social media.

          Focus on the social-emotional connection.  One of the greatest causes of misery for employees is the feeling that the organization they work for isn’t interested in who they are and what goes on in their lives.  Combat this by training supervisors in social-emotional intelligence.  No matter what the business climate, the generation of the worker, or the technology available, all people want to feel important.  The Hawthorne Studies of 1924 found that if managers paid more attention and cared about employees, it raised morale and increased productivity.  That still holds true today: a recent worldwide engagement study that found that organizations with the highest percent of motivated employees increased income 19% and earnings per share 28%.  Creating the social-emotional connection also means that basic HR programs have to be in place to meet employee needs.  This includes having a decent compensation and benefits package, providing accommodations for the disabled; offering flexible work arrangements, establishing special-interest networks, and presenting good career prospects.

          Provide developmental opportunities that link to the organization’s mission and vision.  The “perfect storm” of the emerging employment contract implies that there will never be job security, that employment will be contingent on added value, and that workers have the right to demand the freedom and resources to do their jobs well.  So, if workers are to add value, help them by providing ample opportunity to improve skills and capabilities.  There are many ways to do this such as through education and training, job enrichment or enlargement, coaching and feedback.

          Take advantage of social media.  Social media is the new way of connecting and tech-savvy workers are using it to keep in touch with friends and family, share information, surf for a new job, and provide opinions on their work and their workplace.  Social media is a virtual conversation and because of this, business is now a virtual conversation.  With the advent of social media, an organization’s brand or reputation can be literally one comment away from disaster – from a Twitter blurb, Facebook post or Epinions review.  Someone out there is talking about the organization and they can say whatever it is they want.  What you can do though, is help manage the conversation.

Managing the conversation however, does not mean telling employees what to say.  It means creating an authentic atmosphere where people can initiate a conversation.  In the era of business transparency, empowering people to tell the truth can be risky, but also rewarding.  Think about how your organization can use social media to its advantage.  Introduce rules of engagement for employees and encourage them participate with an understanding of those rules.  Use social connections to share information about the company – create organization Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, or company wikis and blogs where people can share information, celebrate accomplishments, trade opinions. If something bad pops up, have a person in the organization accountable for responding to it appropriately.  Just keep the conversation going.

While workers may be staying in their respective jobs due to the economy, if the relationship is not a strong one – or is abused – when the storm is over, employees will leave for greener pastures.  Whether it’s today or tomorrow, organizations that invest in their people will find that their people will invest in them.

Employee Snow Storms is a post from: The HR Whisperer

We are getting close to the 30^th anniversary of the Weingarten Rights.  It’s funny that I came across an article in a local newspaper about a Florida appellate court ruling that the Manatee County School Board had no right to prevent a high school teacher (under investigation for inappropriate behavior with a student) to have an attorney present when he was to be interviewed by district investigators.  The ruling came after two similar decisions were already made by an administrative law judge and the Florida Public Employees Relations Committee.

The teacher was fired because the District said, “only dues-paying members of the Manatee Education Association — which represents the district’s teachers — are entitled to legal representation by the union, and that private attorneys could not represent members of the bargaining unit.”    This fellow was not union-represented.

I’m not an attorney and I’m not as up to speed where unions are concerned because I don’t deal with them on a regular basis, but from an HR standpoint the decision to not allow representation just doesn’t make any sense to me.   The school board attorney said he “thinks the court ignored the law,” but I disagree.

According to the U.S. Supreme Court (NLRB vs. Weingarten, Inc. 420 U.S. 251, 88 LRRM 2689, 1975), employees have rights to union representation at investigatory interviews – these are called the Weingarten Rights.  The State of Florida agrees (Seitz v. Duval Co. Sch. Bd., Fla. PERC Case #8H-CA-764-1015, G.E.R.R. 767:14,1978).  Violation of this law by an organization results in an unfair labor practice.

Now, an investigatory interview happens when a supervisor questions a employee to obtain information that could be used for disciplinary action or when a supervisor asks the employee to defend his or her conduct.  According to Weingarten, the employee has to make the request; it’s not management’s obligation to inform him of this right.  Under the rules management can either stop the questioning until the rep arrives or call off the interview. 

There is also case law from 2000 supporting the practice of nonunion worker representation at investigatory interviews or meetings that could result in disciplinary action.  As a matter of fact, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that nonunion employees have the right to a representative during an interview that might reasonably lead to disciplinary action. In a close decision issued July 10, 2000 (Epilepsy Foundation of Northeast Ohio, 331 NLRB No. 92), the Labor Board found that the so-called Weingarten rights of unionized employees also apply to employees not represented by a union.

The NLRB goes on to say that the right to representation comes from the right of employees to engage in activities for the purposes of mutual aid and protection under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The Act defines this right as involving employee activity, thus precluding a request for representation by an outside attorney, government agent, or union official.

This is where things get sticky.

From what I’ve read about the case, the teacher did request representation and was denied.

Other news reports say the school district really fired the teacher for gross insubordination, misconduct and policy violations because he did not cooperate with the investigation, not because of the allegations against him.  So, what was he really fired for – denying the interview without representation or for policy violation?

I’m not suggesting that suspension or termination is inappropriate given the serious nature of the allegations against this teacher.  What I am suggesting is that the school district was wrong on preventing the teacher from having representation with him and could have prevented this mess to begin with.

What do you think?

Attorneys Not Welcome? is a post from: The HR Whisperer

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, I’ve decided to share my top ten reasons why any organization should be thankful for HR.    Here goes:

 10 – We figure out where to find people to get the job done, even if there are no niche employees to be found who are experts in Java, HTML, Sequel Pro, Cobol 2.56a, team building, play a mean set of drums, AND come to work on time – sober.

 9 – We understand that it is difficult to merge Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Al-Hijira, Bodhi Day and the Wiccan Yule for the annual holiday get-together.  But we do it anyway.

 8 – We explain – in simple terms – why NO ONE will be getting a raise this year, merit or otherwise.  We also explain why the C-suite got an increase in stock options.  We’ve got the bruises to prove it.

 7 – Instead of asking, “where’s the form for that?” we take care of it.

 6 – We tell you that your supervisors suck at managing people and then try to do something to make them better.

 5 – We say “no” even though the boss may not like it or it hurts, ’cause it’s good for business.  We also say “yes” when it’s good for business.

 4 – We routinely manage FLSA, ADA, FMLA, COBRA, OSHA, and HIPPA  – hell, do you know what these even are?

 3 – We cover your ass, legal and otherwise.

2 – We take care of all the people crap no one else wants to deal with.

 1 – We put the LEAD in Leadership.

First Annual We’re Not Turkeys List is a post from: The HR Whisperer

It’s that time of year again when kids are starting to fill out college applications, deciding if they don’t want college but would rather be a dental hygienist or fire fighter instead, or just plain freaking out that in a few short months their high school career will be over.  I’ve got one of those at home right now and it ain’t pretty.

What do these kids really have to look forward to anyway, career-wise?  With unemployment ravaging the workforce, organizational changes drying up the already few and far between entry-level opportunities, major competition for jobs driving highly experienced people to do desperate things and college tuition rates soaring, just what is out there for new grads?

Not much says an article in the October 19^th issue of BusinessWeek.  Author Peter Coy points out that newly minted high school, college and MBA grads are bright, eager – and unwanted.  The U.S. unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds is around 18% and with the lack of jobs for those kids, their lifetime income potential is plummeting.  It seems like we are creating our own death spiral.

You’d think that with all this cheap labor out there companies would be snapping young people up by the dozen and getting rid of the more expensive employees.  Tain’t so.  We all know nobody’s doing anything in light of the unstable economy. But we weren’t doing a good job of bringing in the new kids to begin with anyway.

Part of what is scary about this too, is that so many of these young people are well-educated, enthusiastic and raring to go.  They’re the ones who are going to be funding Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare in the years to come.  We’re all living longer and many of us lost a ton of retirement money over the past several years due to the bouncing stock market.  So, that means that the older generations are going to have to keep working– which leaves even less for the new kids on the block, never mind our societal coffers.  And let’s not start on the loss of creativity and diversity in organizations.

Some people think the government should intervene before things get worse by subsidizing education, cutting minimum wage, offering more job training, or instituting apprenticeship programs for skilled blue-collar jobs.  Good ideas all, but require some more thinking on my part before I profess an opinion one way or another.

What I will opine though, is that we need to take care of our “pack.”  All organizations should be hiring or interning young people to keep the talent pipeline viable in spite of the wishy-washy economy.

Yea, I know these are great words…reality of business life…who’s going to train them…where do we put them…blah, blah, blah.

If we only focus on short-term and not look toward the horizon, how many organizations are going to miss the sunset and not see the dawn?

Free Puppy Anyone? Taking Care of the Pack Young is a post from: The HR Whisperer

Forgive me readers, for I have sinned.  It has been 20 days since my last blog.  Boy, time flies doesn’t it.  Between consulting, teaching, volunteering, a husband, two active teenagers, three cats, a dog and a rat (and not necessarily that order of importance!), I’m constantly looking for time to get creative and write for the blog.  Yes, I’m one of those girls who multitasks like crazy and also the one on the crackberry while driving. (Maybe in the interest of safety, I shouldn’t confess to that!).  Anyway, I LIKE being busy and do consider myself organized in spite of all the chaos.  But, pondering this dilemma got me thinking about the concept of time management and what that truly means today in the world of work and people.  Behaviorally speaking, if someone has problems organizing his or her time, just what obligation, if any, does the employer have in fixing that?

None.  I don’t think employers have any obligation in fixing how a person spends their time – the only influence they have and should have is in those 8-12 hours a day that the person is at work.  And even then, the amount of control should depend on the job function.  Employers can expect and measure results, though, which is completely different from expecting and measuring activities.  But to get results, you have to manage time well.  And of course, some do it better than others.

We can’t deny the importance of really good time management, especially today in the crunch of work and life and the messy blending of the two.  Researcher that I am, I took to the web to find out what others have to say about time management.  Came up with an oldie, but goodie – The book, First Things First by Stephen Covey (1994) .  Covey is an old fav of mine, back from the early 90s when he came to the forefront for his management thinking.  Written with Roger and Rebecca Merrill, Covey’s First Things First offers a time management approach that helps a person to focus on priorities or the “first things first.”  Suffice to say, this comes from one of Covey’s more inspirational books, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  [Quick aside – my alma mater AT&T was one of the pilot companies for Covey’s training on the Seven Habits; I got my golden egg, but never made it to the golden goose.  If you got the goose, please let me know – I want to hear about it!]

Covey talks about the four generations of time management:  task lists; personal organizers; goal setting and prioritization and finally, values clarification.

The first generation focuses on using notes and checklists that serve as reminders.  I find that people who are highly task- and quality-focused like to do this.  As things get done, they get checked off.  I confess, there is some sort of emotional satisfaction about checking something off the to-do list.

The second generation uses planning calendars and appointment books, a.k.a. MS Outlook, Blackberries, iPhones, Palms, etc.  Electronics now take the place of paper and pencil calendars.  Lord knows what I’d do without my Blackberry.  Still know people who like to buy paper calendars though and write on ‘em.  Like me – if I don’t get my annual Yorkie calendar in my Christmas stocking, things get ugly!

The third generation of folks take TM to the next level by scheduling and prioritizing goals.  These individuals identify the stuff they need to do first and arrange their activities around getting those things done.  That’s me – on a good day.

The gods and goddesses of all generations, the fourth generation people are the ones with the line of sight.  They understand the difference between something urgent and something important.  They are the ones who can and will make decisions based on their moral compass and so don’t forget about the things that are important in their lives.  Like family, friends, and down time.  I like to think that this is me most of the time.

Covey asserts that people have a need “to live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy.”  If a person can move beyond “urgency addiction” into “quadrant two” management, then he or she can begin to prioritize work for achieving both short and long-term goals, while still maintaining a holistic life balance.

So what can you do to help your time management?  Focus on what YOU believe is important.   Plan the work and work the plan.  The 80:20 rule argues that 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results. The other 80% are achieved with only 20% of the effort.  Good things come to those who sweat.

Managing time well does take a sustained effort.  Look at the roles you play in life – which are the most important?  Which are the ones that you can put to the side now and then? 

Think about what you must do to ensure you play each of your chosen roles well.  Can you distinguish between urgent and not urgent?  The answers all of these questions will help you focus your energy on the things that matter.  My chosen roles are family woman, HR pro, volunteer and blogger; in that order.

And that’s why I only write when I have something to say.

Time to Make the Donuts is a post from: The HR Whisperer