HRCleanUp

Today, I'm Thinking about Elizabeth Edwards

Let's chat about Elizabeth Edwards.  My memories of her seem to be attached to the news media.  She really came into the political spectrum when her husband John ran with Senator Kerry for the Presidency.  She was a class act then and continued to be a class act.

So, what does being a "class act" really mean?  I think quite a lot.  I think being a class act includes being honest with yourself and with your family, it is living every single day to its fullest.  It also includes helping others and speaking your voice when others cannot.  Elizabeth Edwards was truly a Class Act.

Her brave fight with Cancer, her support of her husband under circumstances that most people wouldn't have tolerated, to the point where she had had enough.  All depict a class act

So, when you are complaining about work, "The Holiday's", the dirty dishes or the  laundry that you need to do, think about "A Class Act" and proceed appropriatly. 

Elizabeth, thank you for your service, wisdom, and bravery.

Networking or I Told You So

By Guest Blogger:  The Business Woman's Finishing School and Social Club

Working The Network

The trade publications refer to “the hidden job market.”  These are the jobs that are not advertised, and in spite of their invisibility, someone estimates that 80% of available jobs are not advertised.    It is not entirely clear how that is calculated.  What matters to you, the job seeker, is that these jobs are as abundant now as they have ever been.  And they are available to you if you understand where to look.

Why is there a hidden job market?

Advertising is still expensive, online or off, and in a 10% (or higher in some regions and industries) unemployment situation, posting an ad opens a floodgate of applications an employer can’t manage because he laid off his recruiting staff in the last go-round.  Better to put the word out quietly, in a controlled settling, than to post in so public a forum as a website, newspaper, or trade journal.

Referrals are more reliable – for everyone involved.  Even the Navy knows that a buddy system improves retention .  The referring employee is endorsing both the company and the candidate, the candidate can get the real skinny on life at the Company, and the Hiring Manager gets a name he can put right to the top of the stack.

Jobs are often created for a specific need, or to suit a specific internal candidate, where insider knowledge is so crucial you wouldn’t want anyone but the person you already have in mind.  How often have you said in your own work situation, “I wish we had an Anne to put on this problem,”  or “Martin would be at his best if we could find a way to let him analyze data all day long”?

So how does one find this job market if it is invisible?

You’ve got to work your network.  Because working your network works.

This is not a paragraph about “social networking,” tweeting, status updates or YouTube job posting.  This is not a strategy for amassing the largest number of names you can in order to hit them up for jobs.  This is simply about staying connected with the people you know, and letting them help you achieve your goals.

The people you know are your “lower-case f” friends, your family, your former colleagues and classmates.  Social networking sites and tools may make it easy to connect, but not if you are doing it shallowly.  If you are doing it well, a beer or a phone call will do.  And guess what, Workforce America , it’s not just when the chips are down, either.  You’ve got to actually think about other people, and tell them when you do.  Help them when they ask, and ask for help when you need it.  Roll a few logs and actually build that relationship and you will be surprised at what you can accomplish together.

I have a friend/mentor/former co-worker that I chat with online on occasion, and yes we are networked 4 ways.  But we also write notes to each other (stamps, envelopes, and all!) and about one a month we find a way to meet for coffee on a Sunday morning and share ideas.  When she broke her ankle, I came by to keep her company; when I lost power during an ice storm, she put me up.  And when she heard about a shift in her company that implied an opportunity I might take advantage of, she let me know.

That opportunity stalled in its growth stage.  She spread the word about me, and sparked some interest, but the change wasn’t getting off the ground, and I soldiered on where I was until 4 months later, I was laid off from my job.

Enter now a different friend, one I had not heard from in nearly 15 years.  For a time, we had been quite close, but her career pursuits took her across country and Life happened to the both of us.  I will admit that we reconnected through the new-fangled social networking you are so tired of hearing about, but it was our original old-fashioned friendship that made the reconnection such an ease and a pleasure.  When she heard I had been laid off, she asked, “What are you looking for?  My company has some new openings…” 

And it turned out it was the same company.

These two colleagues, who knew each other so well, who both thought of me as a match for their company, had no idea that they both knew me.  Our relationships were so far apart in years and makeup that we were all dumb-founded to learn of this connection.   I brushed up the resume again, and I was reintroduced as a candidate.  This week I started working at that company.

Your network will not get you jobs, you know that.  Even the friend who directly hires you is not hiring you for friendship.  The stakes are too high for that.  They are hiring you for your skills, your style, and the history of success (both personal and professional) you are bringing to that job.  You are literally seeing return on your investment.

You don’t have to be friends with everyone you work with; you don’t have to center your personal life around your work.  What you do have to do is invest a little of the personal in the professional, and the other way around to be “top of mind” when the subject of great fit and match is on the table.

• Give of yourself to the people you know.  Notes, emails, phone calls, (a text or a “poke” if that is your vibe), keep the connection alive.
• Care about what happens to people you no longer work with, live near, room with, play with, and find a way to visit with them.  Not because it may someday lead to a job, but because you like them.  And they are nice to be with.
• Promise to check in, and keep that promise.  This is where so many of us lose our network.  Friendships take time and effort, but in both cases, small quantities suffice.  Sitting sidelines at the soccer game, shopping for new shoes, shooting hoops, taking the baby around the block, telling someone you thought of them today.
• Strive to be the amazing person your friends think you are.  They do, you know.  You don’t get it, because frankly they are so amazing with all they manage, that why would they think twice about you?  You’re both wrong.  You’re both right.  Live up to the hype.
• Offer to help, to keep company, to watch the kids, to send a care package, to write a letter of reference, to put in a good word.
• Accept the same in return.

Creating Your Own Future

Do you think that proposing a new or different position for yourself is futile?  Take a look at the email I received just this morning from one of my former students:

Hi Jay!

Hope this finds you well, and enjoying the spring like weather. I wanted to share my good news with you; I was promoted last week to HR Representative - having written my own job description.  I was surprised, as they had hired a new generalist to fill our opening so I had thought there was little hope for me. I do still have 20 hours of front desk work which I'm fine with (for now).

My manager, director, and the rest of my team were quite impressed that I had written my own job description. I wanted to thank you for that advice, it ended up working out very well for me - I knew you would steer me in the right direction!

Thanks again!

With so much doom and gloom in the news about the current job market, I'd like to remind people that initiative is still rewarded and there is limitless possibility out there!  If you hate your job, start thinking about the job you want.  Write it down and create your own job description.  And, the next time your boss is saying something good about you and your performance, talk to him/her about your dream.  See what happens.

Great people are hard to find and companies still want to retain good people.

Coaching the Uncoachable by Guest Blogger Bobby Pruitt

Bobby Pruitt is my collegue and all-around great guy at Profiles International.  He is Vice President for Enterprise Solutions at can be reached via email at bobby.pruitt@profilesmail.com. 

Coach the Uncoachable
...What happens if they just don’t get it??

By a show of hands, who has ever coached the uncoachable... come on, be loud n’ proud! It's can also be referred to as:

• The immovable force
• Who made that hiring decision, HR?
• The 80/20 rule or some variation of the 80/20 rule...

Or most widely referred to as...

… a waste of my time!!!

As "fair" and equally grounded as we typically say that we are, there's no getting around it -- some of our team members can “appear” to be a waste of “our” valuable time (said as if we are sharing the only unique asset we have complete control over), Having said that, we typically stop doing it the second we make the realization that the “light’s on, but nobody is home”!
To quote one of my favorite lines in a movie (Tombstone): “It’s like playin cards with my brother’s kids”!

Perhaps they were mis-recruited/mis-hired to begin with; perhaps they were promoted well past their ability to effectively lead others just like themselves; perhaps they simply don't want to do what's required; or perhaps we are totally wrong about them all together... I don't know nor would I spend a ton of time analyzing the "why." The "what," is "I'm spending my time for no return, when I could be spending it on someone else for a recognizable value."

Not really much of a choice, is it? On the other hand, it might be our choice all together.
“They” say (They=Consultant somewhere...) that we spend 80% of our time on those things that deliver us 20% of our total goal. I would argue that, when discussing employee performance, motivation, and one-on-one development or coaching, that figure is much closer to 90%.
So, be honest with yourself: How much time do you spend with your Top Performers... your top 5-10%? Don’t consider face-time, drinks after work, or breakfast get-togethers. I'm talking about working with that A-player, investing your personal time and expertise, and making sure that the "A's" receive more emphasis than the "C's."

Yes, we should do an appropriate amount of development for those employees who don't quite "get it," but seem to have the ability, activity and the "potential" to grow significantly with some well-thought out development. But be critical, wary, and skeptical; you should be prepare to “cut the cord” the moment you realize you are repeating yourself, notice issues of ethics or integrity, or that the employee's "light" just hasn't "turned on."

Remember, development equals the sum of all of its parts (coaching, training, appropriate responsibilities) – and is a vital part of growing our future leaders. But they must bring a few things to the table that you simply cannot "train in..." You can't train them to have a work ethic, for example. They must bring that with them when hired. You cannot train them to be honest and ethical -- someone well before you influenced that beyond repair. You should look at Attitude, Activity, and then Skill before you are able to dismiss a “perceived” marginal performer.

As a coach-manager, your attitude toward making a person successful will make up 80% of their success or failure.  ARE YOU PREPARED TO CARRY THAT WEIGHT ON YOUR SHOULDERS? If you understand this concept, you “have skin in the game”! You can look for the good and increase the number of positive encounters. Before you know what is hitting you, you will be embracing the concept of the “Performance Preview*” This Kum-Ba-Yah world is filled with

1. Company initiatives aligning with individual team members goals
2. Open communication
3. Results exceeding expectations

On the flip side, you also eliminate those “mis-recruits and mis-hires” by pointing them in the right direction (and sometimes that direction is right out the door).

*Wall Street Journal article: Get Rid of the Performance Review by Dr. Samuel A. Culbert

Emily Post

On Sunday mornings, I can often be found watching CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood.  There is something about the cadence and in-depth nature of the show that I find relaxing and interesting at the same time.  This morning, they did an in-depth story on Emily Post.  When is the last time you actually thought about Emily Post?

Perhaps it is time for many of us to revisit Emily Post.  As Generation Y moves firmly into the workplace, many of us have noticed their sheer lack of anything  that looks or feels like etiquette.  For us Gen X'ers, we've taken our cues from the Boomers before us.  And while I think the Gen Y'ers have the most to learn, I think that almost all of us could use a refresher.

We're all so busy and it often just doesn't seem to matter.  Why bother to write a thank you note?  Why even bother to wrap the gift?  I recently read a blog post by a recruiter who was telling people that is showed desperation if you sent a Thank You note after an interview. 

Geez...what is this world coming to?

As you whirl through this holiday season, meeting and greeting, think about the "Thank You".  Stop by the store and buy some cards.   And pick up some stamps, too.   It will only take you a few minutes to write up a three sentence expression of thanks.  Keep the cards (and the stamps!), not at home, but right there in your desk drawer.  Use them throughout the year whenever you feel moved. 

You'll be surprised at how "Thank You" will become a part of your regular routine.

Do Your Employees Dream?

People give up their discretionary time for a dream--not a strategy or a spreadsheet.

What have you done to help people fulfill their dreams?

Simplicity Is The Key

Our lives are complex.  Our workplaces are even more complex.  I don't think that anyone has it simple any more.  However, as organizational leaders it is our job to help our people find the simplicity on the other side of the complexity.

How do we do that?

Having a solid change management plan in place for any type of organizational initiative is a critical and thinking through how you make it as simple as possible is a critical piece of thinking that often falls by the wayside.  

A while back, I read an article about organizational change and the focus was a large regional medical center in the Syracuse area that had fallen on hard times.  In other words, it had gone from first to worst.  Staff was unmotivated, the place was dirty, and people were choosing other hospitals in the area to get their care.  Research was at a standstill and the hospital was sinking into desperate financial straits.

So what did leadership do?  Well, they turned the problems over to the middle managers to solve.

A huge task.  But, one that quickly became simplified.  How?  The team was talking about what their hospital's standard of care was going to be.  Someone spoke up and said that "if it isn't good enough for my momma, then it isn't good enough".  That became the standard of care--is it good enough for you momma?  

Simple.  That's what I'm talkin' about!

Cap-ability

What are you doing to develop capability within your team?  Within your department?  Within your organization?   It sounds like an daunting task but it is so important for the long term success of you as a manager and your company as a whole.  

What is the formula for developing capability?  I'll share it with you:

Knowledge + Skills x Talent = Capability

Here is what you must do if you are going to develop capability?

• Assignments that exercise talents
• Share your knowledge 
• Train for skills 
• Target critical experiences 
• Have an annual plan 
• Implement quarterly check steps  

In our current marketplace, you may be thinking that you can't afford to develop people right now--just the opposite is true.  You need all of your people operating to their fullest potential.  You can't afford to have anyone who is just along for the ride. 

Performance Reviews--Ewww!

Samuel Culbert had a great article appear in the Wall Street Journal the other day titled Get Rid of Performance Reviews!  I couldn't agree more--and many of my students agree with me.

Last week, we were talking about Integrated Talent Management systems.  An ITM is all things talent management--it includes applicant tracking, performance management, succession planning, etc.  When we got to the performance management portion of the lecture, we ended up having a great discussion about the trials and tribulations of the performance management system (and it didn't seem to matter if the "system" was in Excel or in a great web based performance management system).  The students all lamented about the same things:

1. It makes me, and HR in general, feel like the organizational "nag"
2. We have to force managers to complete review
3. Everyone hates the process
4. No one is learning anything--in fact, most managers turn in the ratings so they can process the merit increase before they write the review!

Perhaps it really is time to change the methodology for performance reviews.  As Generation Y and the Millennials come into the workplace regular feedback and performance discussions are critical--how will we meet their needs without a performance management system?

When we do leadership development work with organizations at Profiles International, we focus on coaching and on 360 assessments.  Leader know thyself.  Manager, know your people and play to their strengths and develop their weaknesses.  Easier said than done but many companies out there are trying and we're anxious to help more make a real impact on their people--and their bottom lines.

October 16th is National Boss’ Day!

Looking back over 50 years, of National Boss’ Day, workers everywhere may notice that one thing has remained constant: The big money is concentrated a the top, and the bigs are mostly men. As for the talent? Well, we have nothing controversial to say. After all, we’re up for promotion. Right, boss? --from Clay Dillow, Fast Company, October 2008

Here are some fun facts to go along with National Boss’ Day:

• More than 11 million people are employed in management occupations. 40% are women but of the Fortune 500, only 12 companies have female CEOs
• Women hold 15% of all board seats at Fortune 500 firms
• Of the 6,000 plue NYSE and Nasdag-listed U.S. companies, 98 were run by CEOs under the age of forty—however, just one, Julie Smolyansky, the CEO of Lifeway Foods, is a woman
• Companies with at least three women on their board averaged a 16.7% return—45% better than the typical company
• 11% of the CEOs at S&) 500s hold Ivy League undergrad degrees. The most common alma maters? Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Wisconsin—each of which produced 12 chief executives
• Hallmark increased its line of National Boss’ Day cards by 90% is 2007