RocketHR

I’ve been putting together a series over on my other blog about SHRM’s new Human Resources Young Professional project, and the series has covered some of the major issues identified by new HR pros. Those issues include lack of credibility, lack of challenging work, and lack of a definite career path. It’s a great read even for those of you who are experienced HR ninjas, because these topics are ones that reach out and touch everyone in our profession from the newest intern to the most senior VP.

• HRYPs, what you need to know
• How to build credibility as a young professional
• How to find (or create) challenging and meaningful work
• How to define and pursue a career path

I’d love to hear about any experiences you’ve had with managing or interacting with new HR pros. Are they up to snuff? Are they lacking in some pertinent skills (writing, communication, professionalism, etc.)?

Oops! I just realized that the video and audio tracks were separated slightly in the recording/uploading process. Now the video looks like a bad Japanese movie. If you can ignore that part, the rest of the video is worth the listen, though.

(Subscribers may need to click through to see the video)

Video notes

I’m learning a lot in our local SHRM chapter mentoring program, and not to discount our speakers or leaders (both fantastic), but one of the greatest pieces for me is meeting other people with a thirst for knowledge and the willingness to reach for it. The other participants are top notch and I’m extremely blessed to be a part of the group.

What have we covered so far?

• Developing an elevator speech to communicate your job to the CEO
• Social Styles-how you interact and communicate with others
• Branding
• Controlling costs and impacting the bottom through benefit administration
• Public sector HR-much more interesting than it sounds!

One of the most interesting ideas I’ve pulled from the experience?

There’s big power in small groups.

Quotes from other participants

For me, I’ve enjoyed getting to talk more in depth about HR topics, challenges, etc.  I’ve also appreciated the “safe” environment provided to ask questions. I also judge NMU has fostered lifelong professional relationships. Christine Beldner

Being in HR some how entitles you to have an interesting work life. There are some situations that arise and you seriously feel that you are the only one who has ever had to deal with some crazy situation. Being in the NMU has helped me realize I am not alone. (As cliché as it may sound.) Through our meetings I have been able to note who has dealt with similar situations and have been able to rely on more experienced peers for advice.

HR may be a career where ‘interesting’ stories are your day-to-day life and your friends or family might not be able to relate; but your HR friends and family can relate and probably top your most ‘interesting’ story with one of their own! Karen Still

If you’re interested in getting into the NASHRM Mentor University group next year (if you’re local!), just stay tuned for more updates as the year progresses. If you’re not local, but you’d like to start a group for your own chapter, feel free to email me and we can chat! It’s an amazing tool for a young HR professional, and I can’t recommend it highly enough!

The other day I got my wife to watch an old movie with me called “City Slickers.” It’s about a group of businessmen who do a short stint as cowboys driving a herd of cattle in the Midwest. The trail boss (aka the guy running the show when they’re not on the ranch) describes the meaning of life as “just one thing.” That’s what inspired this post today.

I’ve been writing a series over on my other blog about young HR professionals, SHRM, and how to get more credibility. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my short career, it’s that you need to be good at a lot of things, but you need to be really great at doing at least one thing.

Check out the short (2:21) video below for some of my thoughts on how to become indispensable by specializing in something that nobody else wants to do or knows how to do. Sure, you can (and should!) be good at multiple things, and as your career progresses, that number should increase. But when you’re starting out or trying to move up the career ladder, here’s my advice: be really great at one thing. I mention a friend in the video, Steve Boese, who is a pillar of the HR technology community. He’s really great at tech, and people follow him for that specific reason. Just one example of thousands of professionals out there.

(Subscribers may need to click here to view the video.)

Critical thinking for the day: What’s your “one thing?” Let me know by clicking here.

Every two weeks there is a meeting of the minds. There is an event that occurs that, while relatively unknown, has long-term implications for the profession that I love. It affects the HR community, and it often draws a crowd of participants and spectators from around the globe. It’s the HR Carnival.

What it is

Your brain

The Carnival of HR is a free collection of stories and articles by some of the brightest minds in HR thought leadership. Every two weeks you can find it at a different website. All you have to do is stop in, read anything that interests you, and share it with someone else who might enjoy it.

The most recent edition focused on the SHRM conference and what attendees did or didn’t learn (see the Post-SHRM Breakdown article here). The whole process is powered solely by volunteers who want to help others to learn and grow. I wrote a post months ago about the HR blog carnival and how to make a difference. It’s a great addendum to this post.

My first ever Carnival of HR was last year, and the title was a fun idea I had to get a little attention. Check out 25 Pieces of HR Awesomeness if you’d like to see an example of a Carnival.

Why you need it

Your brain on HR

Most people (including those in the esteemed profession of human resources) stop learning and growing once they get into a job they are comfortable with. That’s not a jab or a complaint, it’s just a fact.

A big goal of mine is helping people love what they do. When you are constantly learning and growing, you enjoy what you do so much more. So give the Carnival of HR a shot. Anything that has a name that festive has to be pretty great, right?

Bonus challenge

Okay, I might have convinced you to check out the carnival by now. If so, that’s fantastic! If not, I’ll ask you this-do you like helping people, sharing neat stuff, and/or building your own credibility? I’m betting that everyone wants to say, “Yes” to that question.

Doing things as small as sharing resources can help others to see you as a credible expert. I’ve shared interesting articles with my own boss that eventually filtered through to other VP’s in the company; those VP’s then stopped by to chat about some of the debatable points in those articles. In the future, if a problem comes up relating to the topic of those conversations we had, then I’m going to be remembered as a solid resource. All that just from sharing a few articles a handful of times.

Going even further

If you ever get wild and crazy and would like to not only read and share the items in the Carnival of HR, but maybe even write something to be added to the Carnival, feel free to contact me about it. I’d love to help.

Like this post? Get free updates via email every time a new article goes up. Just click here.

That’s a semi-strange title, but it really does have more meaning that you might think. I recently was turned on to the amazing work of Marcus Buckingham, and I absolutely love what he advocates. Wait, you’ve never heard of him?

His big “thing” is pushing people to follow their strengths. You know those people who tell you to work on your weaknesses? He says to ignore them if possible and get even better at your strengths.

Here’s a little snippet from “The Truth About You” that I’m reading right now.

When it comes to your job, the “what” always trumps the “why” and the “who.”

People tend to take a job because of the “why”–”I’m joining the Peace Corps to help the disadvantaged” or “I’m going into politics to make a difference” or “I’m going into sales to make a lot of money.”

They stay in a job because of the relationships they build, because of “who” they work with–”I like my colleagues. They know me. They expect things of me. I don’t want to let them down.”

But then, as time drags on, they eventually become aware that “what” they are actually doing isn’t what they want to be doing…. So they quit.

Sounds like the stone cold truth to me, and to be honest, it hits a little close to home as well. I joined my organization based on the “why.” I have stayed because of the “who.” And if I can’t get enough of the “what” that I need to stay sane and engaged, I’ll move along. It sounds like the life of a mercenary, but there are too many years ahead (even for a forty year old, there are still at least twenty years of work ahead if he/she wants it!) to stay in a job that isn’t satisfying mentally and emotionally.

I’d like you to try a little experiment. I want you to see how much time at work you can devote to your strengths, and then delegate, drop, or minimize any weaknesses.

So, what are strengths and weaknesses?

Buckingham says that your strengths aren’t necessarily what you’re good at. Why? Well, just because I’m good at folding laundry doesn’t make it a strength, right? Strengths should make you feel strong when you do them. You should finish the activity energized.

On the flip side, weaknesses make you feel weak. If you finish speaking in public and want to pass out on the ground, then that’s probably going to count as a weakness.

With that in mind, why not give it a shot? Try to spend more time working on things that make you feel stronger. It might not be a big change for you, but what if you were able to squeak out an extra thirty minutes per week doing things that revitalize and inspire you? Would that make a dramatic impact on your outlook on work? I bet it would.

Give it a shot. Let me know what you think!

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Annual SHRM Conference in San Diego, California. It was a big surprise to be able to attend, and I gained some valuable insights that I can’t wait to try out at work. I was writing about my experience throughout the event, and if you’re interested, you can see everything on the SHRM10 page. Now, for those of you who haven’t attended, I’m going to talk about what the event is really like.

Bigger than you can imagine

Thousands (11,000, to be exact) of HR professionals all in one place. When the keynote sessions were going on, there were 12 giant screens set up all over the room so that everyone could see during the presentation. The conference center was probably half a mile long and took me more than ten minutes to walk from one end to the other at top speed. Just… Wow.

Expo floor is massive

I never realized there were so many vendors in our space. There were hundreds and  hundreds of booths dedicated to all kinds of things, from certification to payroll to background checks and more. And while I’ve heard stories about the mad rush to grab stuff, I still wasn’t prepared to see thousands of normal, everyday HR pros bounding down the aisles looking for something else to pick up and run with.

It’s a hit or miss with speakers

Nobody can ever quite tell how a speaker is going to perform. Some of them did amazingly well, and others just didn’t hit the spot for the crowd. I was very excited to see Steve Forbes speak, but it was mostly about finance and fiscal policy; that caused a lot of the HR pros in the crowd to do some uncomfortable shifting in their seats! I wasn’t really excited to see Marcus Buckingham speak, but his keynote was simply amazing. I’ve since started reading one of his books and can’t wait to put my hands on another.

Session content was a balance, too

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.

Connections-the name of the game

I’m not one of those people who networks for the heck of it. I try to have meaningful conversations with people I find interesting, and if anything sticks, then that’s fine with me. I had the opportunity to connect with some amazing people, including a former SHRM CEO, the former Chief Human Resources Officer at Yahoo, and more. It’s going to be amazing to see where all of this ends up!

The bottom line

If you are interested in going, it’s going to be a big expense. But if you can do it just once in your career, it might be enough to provide lasting value. Even if you’re not able to do it ever again (and who knows if I will be able to!?!), hitting it that first time is going to give you a lot of insights into our profession. And if you do decide to go, shoot me an email. I’d love to give you a few tips.

Anyone else ever been? Have anything additional to say?

I signed up for this webinar a few days back and was quite surprised at one of the questions on the attendee survey. Check out the video below for more.

(Subscribers may have to click through to see the video)

Now that you’ve watched the video, take a moment and turn it over in your head. Give it some thought and hit me in the comments. I want to know if you think you are a decision maker or an influencer and why!

I spend a lot of time writing. Sometimes things turn out well, and other times things I write are probably best described as “an affront to humanity.” Seriously, though, I have a few different posts I’ve written recently that you might be interested in reading.

• How to pass the GPHR exam
• What is your “go to” resource as an HR pro?
• Social media makeover for the HR Certification Institute
• Interview with SHRM’s new “social media guy”

And the most-viewed post (ever!) was ironically a guest post by my friend Robin Schooling from over in Louisiana. She wrote about the importance of growing and developing to avoid stagnation as HR professionals. I highly recommend it!

Have you read anything fantastic in recent weeks? I’d love to hear about it!

Whoa! What a title, huh? I’ll get to that in a minute, but first I’d like to ask if you have an onboarding program. How do you introduce new people to your organization?

A few well-known onboarding methods:

• Is it by tossing them a manual with instructions to “read through and ask questions?”
• Do you make them watch a video or slideshow detailing the long (AKA boring) history of your organization?
• Or do you surround them with people who are willing and able to help, guide, and provide the support necessary to prepare them as a representative of your brand and an employee of your company?

In case it wasn’t totally clear, the last one was supposed to be the “right” answer, if there even is one. I was reading this really old book a few days back, and I ran across this great explanation. Onboarding isn’t new, and people have been doing it the right way (and the wrong way) for many years. Check it out:

See that? I’ll repeat it for you.

This company undertakes to form an intimate and personal contact with its new employees… This personal touch is regarded as all important.

Why do I care?

My organization is of medium size, but our employees are scattered to the far corners of the state. Creating and sharing a new onboarding program is something I’ve been increasingly interested in recently. A few other resources I’ve found:

• Effective onboarding audio
• Onboarding group on LinkedIn
• Onboarding-a manager’s responsibilities

Have anything more you’d like to add? I’d love to hear your ideas for what makes an onboarding program succeed (or fail).

AKA Other people think human resources has zero value

I find neat resources now and again in my web travels (like the Netflix presentation on culture and responsibility), and the one I’m talking about today is fantastic. Most of you have probably heard about the 2005 article “Why We Hate HR” in Fast Company where the author bashes the human resources profession for a number of faults.

Well, there’s a great PDF guide I found somewhere (can’t remember where! I’ve had it downloaded for almost half a year) that is a teacher’s guide to combat the points in the article. I really enjoyed looking it over, and I bet you will find it useful as well. Here’s the link to download the PDF. I have covered some of the interesting points and quotes from the article below. The questions at the end get my blood pumping. Are you the same way?

Chicken or the egg?

It is unclear what came first, the marginalization of HR by senior management or the stagnation of the skills of HR professionals. Certainly, if all senior management wants is someone to plan the company picnic and keep morale up, HR professionals would not be to blame as there is no motivation to improve their skills and attempt to have a strategic role in the company.

School isn’t helping

The work of Mark Huselid and John Delery, among others, regularly focuses on how HR practices can have an important impact on an organization’s bottom line. The metrics exist; they are just not being incorporated into academic programs and professional continuing education certification and reading. A greater connection must be made between academic researchers and the professionals who actually practice these skills every day.

We all could use some Dilbert

In the immortal words of Alice of Dilbert fame (Scott Adams, United Feature Syndicates, Inc. 1996), who has just met a newly minted MBA who has no people skills but yet is highly skilled in finance, accounting and economics, “So, you’re a highly qualified leader because…you’re good at math?”

Asking the hard questions

There are some great discussion questions tacked on at the end of the guide, and I think they are worth talking about even if we ignored the rest of the article.

• Top management does not understand what value HR departments can play in their organizations. How do we convince them?
• What key changes would you make to HR education to ensure graduates have the appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) to link HR practices to business strategy?
• How does the gender makeup of HR professionals help or hinder the perceptions of the effectiveness of the HR function?
• What recommendations can you make to protect the company assets and minimize litigation while still allowing for individual differences and exceptions to the rule when managing diverse employees in your workplace?

Anyone have thoughts to share? Surely I’m not the only one who’s interested in this stuff.