I Can't See Any Transparent Leaders

Ah, transparency. An already old and tired buzzword that has fallen out of favor. It's so 3rd quarter of 2012! Who uses that term anymore? Some companies I'm aware of still embrace transparency as part of their honor, integrity, and yes...use it as a buzzword to justify fees and other expenses. These costs are okay because we didn't try to hide them! We're transparent!

Whatever.

Buzzwords Start For A Reason
I look at catch phrases or terms, like transparency, from a different perspective. The reason this term suddenly became so popular (IMHO) is that the chaos of the recession forced companies to scramble and appear as if they were (no longer) hiding anything from customers. Their emphasis on this theme and subsequent actions to convince their clients, investors and employees that they were in fact being open and honest, helped turn this terrific word into somewhat of a joke.

That's a shame.

Forget the Buzz...Make It Part of Your Leadership DNA

In leadership, the term applies to many areas ranging from how much information is shared with your employees, to how you behave with your colleagues.

I happen to love this term, not because it suddenly was the trendy thing to say (for about 30 minutes); but because of what it represents when you peel away the negative spin.

Be open. Be honest. Share what you can as soon as possible. Involve your team toward reaching a goal, or target, or mandate, or change, or whatever it is that needs to happen.

That's good stuff.

How About You

What buzzword bandwagon have you jumped on lately? Are you worried about staying current with the industry lingo; or, have you decided that you're going to use words that matter. Doing something that matters, to me, is far more important than sounding like you know some sort of special way to create synergy in your organization anyway.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.



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Proud Moments

I recently participated in a fast-paced and strategically focused series of planning meetings for my organization. One of the activities we did to kick-off the event was to publicly acknowledge one of our proudest moments while working at the company.

I had two pretty strong, and unexpected, reactions to this exercise.

I Hate It!
I didn't hate it because it was a bad idea; I hated it because I hadn't thought of it first. I was actually privately embarrassed that I wasn't using this approach as a regular part of my conversations with leaders and employees. I am blessed to work in an organization that literally performs miracles on a daily basis, yet somehow I had gotten caught up in the never ending stream of work drama and had lost sight of those miracles.

But I Love It!

Once I got over my self-inflicted humiliation, I got fired up about this approach. Key leaders, physicians, and community leaders one after the other shared their personal "proud moments" of being part of my organization.

It was absolutely awesome. This single exercise out of two intense days of brainstorming, discussion, and fortunately not 100% agreement on everything (bobble-heads and yes-men never changed the world!) was for me the most impactful part.

How About You

When was the last time you thought about your proudest moment working at your organization? Better yet, have you ever asked anyone about theirs? The answers might just be downright inspiring.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.



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HR Confession

We don't like all of the employees.

We don't like saying no to you.

We get annoyed when you take too damn long to tell us about your poorly performing employees.

We know it's a hassle to fill out the forms we send you, we don't like filling them out either.

We get fired up about providing good service to you => you are our primary focus.

We care deeply about the organization and work hard to protect it.

We're willing to go to battle externally on your behalf because we believe so strongly  in the company and you.

We constantly think about the entire organization, not just your department.

We want the organization to dominate the market.

We will go the extra mile for employees whenever we possibly can...and even sometimes when we shouldn't.

We'll always, always, have your  back.

How About You
What's your confession?

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.




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It's The How

Over the years I've had the privilege of working with a lot of really smart people. Whether they were in formal or informal leadership roles, practiced clinically or worked in finance, information technology, marketing, and yes human resources, my industry is packed with really bright people. Over those same years I've seen many of those bright people struggle mightily and in some cases fail. Why? They knew "what" to do, they just never mastered the "how."

Soft Skills Can Kill You
I've written in the past about how much I dislike the term soft skills. I've finally realized that the term must have come from those individuals who are terrible at dealing with people effectively, so they tried to downplay that skill set and called it soft. Those are some of the same leaders I've seen who have failed miserably. That's a shame, really. All of that knowledge and brain power wasted because they never figured out how to interact with people.

Old Dogs and New Tricks
A phrase that comes up again and again in my human resources practice has to do with someones personality. "Oh, that's just his personality." Or, "she has one of those personalities that you just have to learn to deal with." I completely disagree with this perspective.

"Making excuses for someones behavior simply because none of the organization's leaders had the backbone to address it does not make it right."

Old behaviors that might have worked when Richard Nixon was President no longer apply to the modern workplace. Sadly, we still see leaders that believe either avoiding a problem or using an iron fist will solve everything.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and it's actually embarrassing for those that still try to use these approaches.

How About You
Have you spent so much time learning "the what" that you've neglected "the how?" Maybe it's time to rethink your delivery, and not worry so much about the accuracy of every little idea. Or, perhaps you know a good leader who has let "the what" get in the way of their work. Today might be a good day to help them out with "the how"...before it's too late.

I'd love to hear from you.

No Excuses.



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HR Is Never Linear

I had a shocking realization last week. Once it happened, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and I think it may alter the course of my entire life. Okay, maybe not that last part. But still, it was a whack to my head with the reality stick.

Process Flow is the Way to Go

Oh my gosh did I believe this to be true! My team has spent months mapping out, correcting, and streamlining our internal processes. They’ve embraced the challenge of modernizing a "personnel" system into a well-running human resources machine…and they’ve done a terrific job.

But last week I learned something that lays over the top of our best processes.

Humans Are Awesome, I Think

My epiphany came during a discussion with one of my colleagues who was expressing frustration that one of our searches was moving along in a haphazard fashion. We had some of the pieces in place, but for some reason we weren’t following a nice orderly process.

Eureka! Hello reality!

When was the last time an issue that involved human beings followed an orderly process? Answer -> NEVER! Welcome to the world of HR. It’s no wonder our management teams never quite understand what we do. We’re the ones dealing with people exclusively, while they have the structure and protocol of month end financials, computer programming, supply processes, sales orders and many other routine systems to follow. (I know they all don't go smoothly, but you get the point.)

How About You

We do not have the luxury of always following a neat and tidy process for every issue that pops up. We have to deal with the human component 100% of the time and that makes it different, every time.

As for me, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’d love to hear from you.

No Excuses.



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Still Lots of Fear in Business - A #NoFearHR Update

Hi Mike,

I'm glad to hear that you're getting a more sophisticated perspective from the audiences you're speaking to about leveraging social tools for their businesses. That's great news. I, too have been busy speaking over the last couple of months about transformation, social media, and what I like to call "Good HR" practice. Unlike you however, I continue to meet many human resources professionals who are either stuck in an organization that does not support the adoption of social strategies, or downright doesn't even understand what they are.

Quite honestly Mike I'm a bit stunned. I was hoping we were making progress, but I think that because you and I have embraced these tools and understand how much of a difference they can make in our work we've assumed that others appreciate their value as well. I think we still have a long way to go.

There is a silver lining to my recent experiences however; that is the enthusiasm to learn more, to try social tools for networking, research, recruitment, and employee communication seems to be growing.

I believe there is an opportunity to help these struggling HR practitioners to find support outside their organizations, which in turn will position them as valuable members of their organizations down the road.

HR on the ouside helping HR on the inside...I like that Mike.

We need to kick our #NoFearHR mindset into gear. Let's do this.

#NoFearHR is a project to assist business professionals who want to know more about how to put social media tools to work in a meaningful way. Content is provided by Jay Kuhns and Michael VanDervort.  You can find links to the rest of the ongoing conversation here.



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Finding Your Social Voice

One of the questions that comes up frequently when I’m discussing the power of social media and its direct application to modern HR practice is about voice. So many new users of social tools worry about how they will “sound” to those listening on the interwebs that they often don’t find the courage to jump in and start exploring how to use the various tools like twitter, LinkedIn and facebook (at least facebook in a professional context.)

Pretending Isn’t Real

The more time I spend connecting with colleagues from around the world, the more I realize the only way to be effective when going social is to avoid trying to be someone, or something, I’m not. All too often I hear HR pros use fancy words at work trying to sound important, or smart, or…well…something. I’ve done that too.

I usually come off sounding like I’m trying to be Mr. Holier-Than-Thou-Guy. That’s pretty lame. I hate being lame.

Real Is Real

As I spend more time incorporating social into my professional life, I now realize that the person I’m supposed to sound like is me. What a breakthrough! Talk about an obvious realization.

I’m almost embarrassed to say it out loud, but it’s true. When we go social, we need to be genuine, candid, honest, and real. We need to be ourselves.

How About You

Who do you pretend to be when you’re going social? I hope you’re not pretending to be anyone. I want to get to know the real you, and so does everyone else. Don’t be afraid to be anyone but yourself. Sound good?

I’d love to hear from you.

No Excuses.



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