What Exactly Do You Do?

My husband, an Accountant by training and Controller by trade, asked me "What exactly do you do anyways?" As I explained that HR hires people, helps managers address performance, manages/explains benefits, addresses employee complaints, works out strategies for improving people performance, and advises on HR legal compliance. As I covered each topic he characterized each one as work that managers should be doing until the legal piece. To this day, I think he believes I should have become a lawyer. Today, the question came up in a different way. I respect the Operator that I was talking with and understand that his question was meant to understand and then to make a point. Recently, employee relations was directed back through the chain of command with HR as an outside resource once the chain was exhausted. The Operator was used to HR talking all of the employee relations items off of his hands and did not understand what HR was going to do for him if that main function was not part of the mix. I explained that the current direction is for HR to focus on talent acquisition, talent development and succession planning. I also let hime know that there is an HR Compliance component, employee satisfaction component and customer experience component. I even threw in that my experience in previous companies was that the operators manage employee complaints and I advise on compliance and handle escalations. My main functions were usually recruiting, training, HR legal, performance management and succession planning as the talent functions were called before buzz work bingo took over. The Operator is going to take it up the food chain becuase he is not the only Operator wondering why the structure put this back on their shoulders. I suggested that there was much abuse of the process and the expectation that employee relations be handled at store level was not happening under the old system. We'll see how it goes with the whole responsibilities gig works out. I have worked for more large companies than not and find my role in middle management is execution of company programs. Here strategy is a process of innovating how to get the corporate direction done better, faster, more. What do I do? I do my job and my job is what the company needs it to be.

Unmitigated Gaul

I promised that we would discuss this. I received a blog idea regarding clueless people. The ones that just received a performance discussion, but still put their name in the hat for a promotion. The consultant that botched an annual project, but called the next year expecting to get the contract again. Instead of cluelessness, this really looks more like unmitigated gaul. They have the guts to assume that they should still be in the running in spite of clear feedback to the contrary. When the manager turns them down, they have the guts to go to HR and complain. We have to investigate, document and explain to these folks that they still aren't going to get what they want. They continue up the food chain as far as someone will listen. So, I believed that they just had unmitigated gaul, but I was wrong. They have entitlement. Their performance issues can't be their fault because "they tried really hard". A mean manager that has it out for them is the reason they weren't considered for the job. Of course, the HR person is in league with these villains to legitimize their sinister activities and "the man" is keeping them down. There are times when feedback really isn't about you, but there are times when the feedback is really about you! Now that I have worked this through, maybe my friend is right and these people need to get a clue.

Awareness is Oddly Inactive

I came across this realization tonight while talking with my husband. He had lunch with the owner of his company. They discussed the gaps in execution among the job groups and he said that the boss is aware of the situation. I asked him if this would translate into any sort of action. He wasn't optimistic. It reminded me of something my sister's friend from Quilt Bee told her. She had argued with her husband. He said, "I'm sorry I'm an ass". She said, "Saying you're an ass makes you self-aware, it doesn't make you less of an ass". All we really want is for people to take action on what they know. The amazing simplicity of this concept is mind boggling. We make people aware of things all the time, but what action did we plan against it? My favorite process is to chase the awareness until the owner takes action to gain relief from me. If you are in control of the awareness and the action, make it go! All of us will appreciate it.

Let's Get Political

Congratulations to the State of Arizona for protecting our border. This is the responsibility of the federal government. "We the People, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Arizona is looking for their domestic tranquility and general welfare rights. In 2005, Arizona's Prop 200 was the most controversial immigration legislation in the US and they had to go around Janet Napolitano, then governor of Arizona and now Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to get it. Current governor, Jan Brewer, is listening to her constituents frustrated by foreign nationals breaking US law and geting away with it. Our border states are inundated with people that are violating federal law by being here, but our own federal government fails to enforce the law of our country. California tried to protect their borders and their people lost the resolve to enforce the law forsaken by our federal overseers. We have a legal immigration process that allows folks to join us in our democratic process including all of the fun bells and whistles like contributing to the financial support of this great Republic. Let's quit getting fancy and start enforcing the laws we have. Arizona rights some mighty fine legislation that is a credit to the lawyers within that legislature. I wish Jan Brewer and the people of Arizona the best as they seek to provide for the common defense.

Filling in Boxes among other Critical Management Competencies

The further up I climb the more apparent it becomes that filling in boxes is a core competency of management. There are electronic boxes to post a job, complete the screenings, process a hire and onboard. There are more boxes to demonstrate the strategic plan, track the strategic plan and provide an infinitesimal break down of the plan. More electronic boxes to order supplies, discipline employees, record successes, and explain failures. The company becomes a vast array of boxes requiring a hierarchy of specialists to explain how to use them, correct improper uses of them, and build more of them to satisfy the data vortex. However, try extracting viable information about important aspects of the business out of the vortex. That is the true challenge requiring a whole new competency - recreating data from the indigestible blob. Filling in your own boxes on your own electronic forms to satisfy your own data vortex. There needs to be a break even point in the electronic box creation and utilization process. Has anyone tried to figure out what that point is or do you have any ideas on a formula for it? I would love to hear from you all on this one.

AWOL for the Friday Rant

Blogging and participating in blogs has started to yield some connections with bright people working toward making work make more sense. Thanks to those that have reached out and I look forward to meeting more practical thinkers! Please drop me a line.
I missed the Friday rant because my younger sister came for a visit Friday, so I suspended the rant for family bonding. I am the third child of 4, all girls. We were born in groups of 2, so I am closest to my youngest sister. We shared a room for 14 years and lived to tell about it. She gives me great ideas for the blog because she is a very high level engineer for a large manufacturer. There is a lot of sillyness going on out there and she willingly shares. This week's agenda includes unmitigated gall. I will save my usual rant for Monday.

Lighting a Manager on Fire and Other Illustrative Training Techniques

There is much to be said for a sense of humor in one's work. Once, in a fit of frustration, I suggested that lighting one manager on fire in the parking lot, taping it, and showing that to all new managers would help them understand the importance of compliance. Behavioral modeling seemed like a great way to get ongoing solid performance. This lead to other great training concepts like putting managers in the trunk of my small company car until they agree to sign the affidavit of cooperation. When my company computer could no longer be fixed by shaking it like an etch-a-sketch, I offered to run it over with my company car, put the pieces inside the car, drive it off a parking ramp, take a picture and send it to the corporate office to explain what is wrong with the computer. I have a healthy distate for kitchy training programs and corporate bureaucracy. Fortunately for my career, this creativity is satisfied in creating the process and presenting it as stand up comedy in the office. This is my little gift to all of the business professionals that take it all too seriously. Isn't it about time you lit a manager on fire?

Pay Equity - A Compensation Fairy Tale

CNN, The San Francisco Chronicle and even Harvard Business Review have been providing a warning worthy of a Grimm's Fairy Tale (the real ones not the Disney kind) that women's wages are about 80% of men's wages for comparable work. They have gone as far as walking us through the dark forrest where women with advanced degrees are in this disparate situation. My favorite tale begins with female CEOs averaging about $1,500 a week. Now, this skeptical reader begins to question the premise of this cautionary tale and wonder how many of these CEOs are running their own businesses. The scary story continues as the boss of a smaller company finds it tends to limit one's general compensation. We see frustrated women abandon banging on the glass ceiling to make their own way in business, because it beats the harrowing path of corporate politics. An entertaining twist to this tale is that media and busines professionals alike believe women make less because they leave to be mommies and lose years of increases and the experience that adds value to their resume. Diapers and bottles and brain atrophy, Oh My!
What the heck is going on out there? Any company with enough money for a lawyer is clear on the process of pay equity and how to maintain it through structured hiring practices and quartile based increase structures. There is more to this story than meets the eye or will ever be told in a newspaper, internet post or magazine article. Here is my advice, if you don't like the pay, find a better situation and go. My best increases have come from getting a new employer.

All's Quiet on the Healthcare Front

It seems that the news media has quickly moved on to other items of interest leaving the very long term impact of healthcare reform to the practitioners and tax payers. Let's face it, most Americans don't even know the name of the laws costing them billions of dollars or the entertaining riders that continue to surface. The last 2,000 page document most people have completed was a Harry Potter book with far superior prose and plot to the Healthcare and Education Reconiliation Act of 2010 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

As a free enterprise system, United States citizens often balk at big business that touches our lives intimately. We see the flaws in these profit based systems and want them to be different. Instead of letting demand determine change, throngs of people look to the government for their solution. Interestingly, our founding fathers did not even believe that our government should ever be our social solution. They should be protecting us and our borders, and their current execution in these areas is sketchy. The call for government (Where a majority vote determines the rule, if there is a vote.) to decide our fate truly identifies why we need to beware of stupid people in large groups. Now that we have this joyous bundle of legal mumbo-jumbo to organize our healthcare, I encourage you to learn about our new tax master. We will be paying for the next four years to set up these programs, so there is enough time to take a second shot at getting government to solve the problem. (Yes, I mean by deciding for your self, if legislators that voted for it need to be transitioned to a new career.)

There is something out there to learn from and shape a stronger solution. However, choosing to forget about this and move on to the current media topics will not put anything in place to make changes. I don't know about you, but I would never start paying payments today for a car I get in 2014.

Generally Speaking

The term HR Generalist is a misnomer in the business world. This not a jack-of-all-trades but master of none type of job. These professionals are expected to be labor law experts including an alphabet soup of legal acts and a numerical stew of executive orders. They also get the distinct pleasure of being a subject matter expert on recruiting, retaining and motivating talent in a wide range of fields. Also, if this isn't enough, this "generalist" is the go to person to handle performance management, employee discipline and enforcing policy and procedure. They round this out with healthy strengths in training, business presetation, and strategic development. In spite of all of this, management and HR advocacy groups say they also need to be highly proficient in general business and specialize in the business of their current employer. It isn't rocket science, but it isn't a cake walk regardless of the job title.

Freedom of Choice - The Friday Rant

One of the most self-destructive things we encounter in our lives is our freedom of choice. The right to choose is an amazing gift. As I was driving up to one of the facilities, I take care of 16 as a HR professional, there is a bus stop nearby. I saw a man sitting in a motorized wheelchair, wearing oxygen and smoking a cigar, waiting for the bus. Besides the obvious explosion risk, at some point his freedom of choice should have been affected by self-preservation. However, we have supposedly evolved to the point that we override our need for sleep to achieve more, our need for safety to indulge more, and our instinct to be part of the pack to make our own way. I personally crave more instinct in my life. There have been many times where that momentary feeling that I should take a certain course of action has lost to my "reason and planning" much to my regret. My suggestion, next time your exhausted, sleep; when you are scared, run; and when you are lonely, find your pack.

Doggie Day Care

Today, I got that dreaded call. One of my babies got into a fight at school and got hurt. Baby Demon, our Siberian, and an obviously viscious Golden Retriever got into a fight. He ended up with a puncture wound on his shoulder. They put him in time out and Deogie, our lab, was put in with him. Poor thing, she didn't do anything wrong. It is interesting how we treat certain functions in our companies that same way. Human Resources, like any other profession, has it's share of people that, well, they suck. However, the reputation stuck. Do what we might, the practical operations minded folks end up in public image time out with the folks that earned it. Maybe we can change our job title and escape this. Any thoughts? Oh, well, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet and an onion would smell as strong.

It might help

Have you ever been to the doctor witha well defined group of symptoms and they give you an antibiotic, because it might help. The process of diagnosis and treatment of ills, whether physical or otherwise is part art and part science. My most recent expereience led to well defined redwelts over my limbs. Turns out I'm allergic to that antibiotic. This also happens at work. The best intentioned actions create an unfortunate and ugly backlash. Just like my system, the organization violently rejects the treatment. This can lead to risk aversion on the part of the person that is trying to treat the symptoms, unless companies allow room for mistakes. Too many of us will only leap when the solution is clear to maintain that track record of wins. I'm curious, have any of you seen a work environment where failed experimentation is at least accepted?

You want what? You want it when?

My father is a retired skilled tradesman. At the shop where he worked, he had two pictures on his rolling toolbox with three little laughing men on each with the phrase "You want what?" and "You want it when?". We see companies adding more and more work to fewer employees, in what appears to be an experiment to find the breaking point. At what threshold will reducing the crew cause mutiny? How close can we get to this point without finding most of the staff in the fetal position under their desks? Today, I witnessed four people receive 3 months worth of assignments to completee in 3 weeks. They will get it done and move on to second quarter wondering when they will be carpet bombed again. What will it take for employers to see that their employees are more like the residents of London during the Blitzkrieg than an effective team? If you think HR can fight the good fight to fix it, this story is about mid-management HR people. Please someone stand up and show the bosses their posters of the laughing men, maybe the pictures will help them understand.

Toxic Waste Handler

Today, I found myself sitting in an office without any of the tools I need to do my job, after they graciously allowed me to reapply and be selected for my own job. Looking at the mess my newly promoted boss left behind, I was reminded of a consultant that suggested I am a toxic waste handler. One of those people with the ability to quickly clean up things others are wisely unwilling to approach. I am also the same person that would ask an executive for their extra dessert at a company function. Both yield similar results, a small reward for a bold move and the periodic opportunity to reapply for one's job. It made me wonder how I can do more for the toxic waste handlers around me. I was the chucklehead that accepted this job, once again, so maybe there is a chance to take care of the rest of the radiation slime junkies out there. I welcome kindred spirits to reply and help me figure out what drives us to run into the power plant, when everyone else is running out. This should guide me to a way to raise up my fellow waste managers at work.

Get Back to Work - The Friday Rant

I worked with a manager at one time, who had a 5 year-old daughter. One day, he stopped in with her. During the visit, he had her demonstrate her management skills for me. He said, "Who are you?" She said, "I'm the boss." He said, "What am I supposed to do?" She said, "Get back to work!" That was cute and a direct reflection of how her father managed in real life. Anyone that manages or has managed employees with production deadlines, quality requirements, and customer expectations has shared this little girl's sentiment from time to time. The question is whether or not that manager has made it possible for that employee to get work done. There are varying degrees in the success of a manager based on their ability to remove obstacles and provide tools. Generally, the basis of this is listening, because some of the obstacles are employee perceptions that need a good revamp with some straight talk. This isn't about leadership, because leadership has nothing to do with managing work. They are two separate skill sets that don't always work together and are not always required. Let's suspend the incessant drone of advice and get back to the art of listening, observing and managing work processes. It isn't that hard, or I would not have been able to do it at the ripe old age of 19 working in restaurants. If you want your employees to get back to work, MANAGE THEM!

Social Media Isn't All Chat

Recently, my interest has turned to understanding how social media works for employer branding, recruiting and networking. Like most business professionals, my Linked In account was my social media staple for more than 2 years now, but just got the first picture of me 2 weeks ago. I like the network updates, so I can see what is going on with business contacts. My Facebook account is, and will remain, my personal social media connection. I don't post a lot, but I like to see what is going on with friends and family. What I didn't realize until a Webinar with Penelope Trunk (Brazen Careerist) and Amanda Hite (Talent Revolution) is that I was listening to those communities. My activity wasn't to chat, but to see what was happening. They indicated that the key to success in social media is setting up ways to listen and learn about different communities. When you find one that has the talent you need, then you chat and put your brand and opportunities forward to the right folks. This also works for relocation, you can tap into a community using tools that pull RSS Feeds for a specific area to see what people talk about and begin communicating with the neighborhood. It also applies to networking, set up your Google search, Net Vibes, Twitter Feed, etc., to the industry, geography, or whatever you are targetting and listen. The people with influence will become obvious, then reach out. I have worked in some huge companies with significant influence in their industries and the HR folks there generally neglect social media. There are many reasons from fear of a career limiting misstep to a total lack of understanding of what social media can do for them. Thanks to Brazen Careerist for putting on that webinar with such portable information for all of us!

HR Canibalism - why do we eat our own?

I recently read in Harvard Business Review about the dangers of envy in the workplace. Along with that there are the deadly sins of sloth (nobody's watching so why do more), greed (only I can have control), and corporate politics (talk the talk, walk the walk, tow the line). These all lead to a perceived scarcity of success resources. Envy causes negative competition. While one HR is promoted and busy learning, the colleagues that didn't get the job are revving up the bus in front of the operators. The negatives and nasty eat away at the parties involved and any coworkers stuck watching. Sloth is that passive-agressive sort of situation. If that person keeps doing all of these extras, they will raise the bar. Let's take shots at them in front of the operators to keep the standard low. Sloths often run in packs with a leader skilled in sniping. Next, there is greed. Anyone that knows the systems, processes, legal info, techno-jargon or other specific stuff and doesn't share. When you go to them they make a public show out of pointing out to the operators how simple everything you asked really is (you know, deciphering Relativity and splicing genes). Nothing equals their joy in making others look bad through lack of communication. Finally, there is corporate politics. The political folks that follow the path of PC, buzzword conformance and work from the vantage of the popular kids in school. The ability to point out to the operators how their HR colleagues are uncouth and not ready for prime time is irresistible and used liberally. Doesn't HR have enough of an image problem without denegrating each other to the rest of the company. This doesn't even cover how we treat fellow HR professionals as candidates for openings in our companies. Just cut it out. It doesn't play well regardless of your position or department. We run into enough jerks between the grocery store and our commute to last a lifetime, so grow up and be a decent human being. It pays great dividends because you won't need to watch your back or practice stretches to pull out the knives. There is plenty of success for everyone!

Unpopular and Unapologetic

In a bold effort to glean topics from a variety of perspectives, I identified myself as a HR person on a business blog. The first response definitely confirmed that HR and Lawyers share a similar reputation. I get it. Management allowed HR to evolve when they realized that they could get someone else to handle employee complaints, fire people and prime the employees to line-up and drink the juice. The up-side for managers is easy to see. Luring people into HR was easy, too - tell them they can make a difference by taking care of employees or by allowing the operators to focus on the business. Sounds like an awesome value add and gets operators to cross over the People side, as well as convincing others to specialize in it. The bummer is that HR gets the negative focus, while the company tells us to be an employee advocate, they have us communicating reductions in force. HR is really the second thing, an effort to keep operators focused on the business. This has been my focus, so I don't always get A+ marks on the touchy-feely side. It's not like the Accountants get any love either, so we have found our place between the bean counters and the sharks. If you can't stomach it, or want to be popular, try Marketing and Sales. I hear they are fun and actually get an expense budget.

A Time of Renewal

Happy Easter, if you celebrate it. If not, Happy April 4th. Spring is a time of renewal and we start it out early with April Fool's day. This reminds us to suspend our belief in the words of even the most reliable individuals in our lives. This is a day where it can be plausible and wrong, but also implausible and right, either way we won't believe it until we see it. As one of my bosses used to say, believe but confirm. In HR, anyone that does investigations regularly has learned that nothing is as it seems on first report. We are obligated to suspend the habit of belief in what seems believable to create a broader picture from someone else's sketch. Their intent is mixed with sketches from others and colored in by still more observers. The best investigations end up with a detailed depiction of the scened, some remain a sketch. All the same, a result is required that, like true art, draws criticism and praise depending on the individual observer. The level of risk varies depending on the skill and knowlege of the investigator. If HR seemed easy, remember that we make tough decisions with limited data every day, just like our line management partners.

Smokers at Work - The Friday Rant

This one is dedicated to my sister in manufacturing. What makes smokers think that their assumed right to desecrate their bodies and pollute the air is so sacrosanct that they don't have to care about others? Not every company has cracked down on the random smoke breaks, so some of us are still dealing with the smoker that is 2/3 as productive most days and 1/2 as productive when stressed. These folks need their security blanket/oral fixation satisfied often enough that they should be worried about their mental condition even more than lung cancer. There's more. What about the slack we get to pick up when their illness prone bodies pick up yet another cold or flu. Better yet, how about the times that they show up to work this way and share it with everyone else, because they burned their time off. We all just love presenteeism driven by someone else's habits. Now back to the pollution angle. Even if you don't smoke inside the building, you smell. You either reek of stale smoke or have decided to chemically poison everyone with your lastest cologne/airfreshener. The truth is, I work with some smokers that are awesome at their job, don't let it interfere with work hours, and that I truly respect. They still smell funny and I worry about them, which is also distracting. Even the best smokers still contribute to the increase in healthcare costs for everyone at their company. Don't even try to tell me the Healthcare Reform will change this, that is a rant for another day! Come on people, do us all a favor and at least get your smoking back to the legitimate times allowed for everyone to take a break, keep the scents under control, and take care of your health. The rest of us need a break from your habit. By the way, if you are non-smoker complaining because they actually take their allowed breaks, get a clue and take yours. Burn out is probably making you as ineffective as some of the smokers.