‘Difference’ Articles at Everyday People, Page 16

Great HR is messy !!

Just recently I was involved in conversations with supervisors who both said, “I wish people would just do what I say !!” It wasn’t a passing phrase. It was emphatic !! They were both frustrated with employee situations and felt they had hit a wall.

I asked them both if things would be easier if what they said came true. If people jumped at every word, command or thought from a person above them, would things be better? They didn’t waste one second in telling me, “Yes, of course it would.” I couldn’t let this coachable moment pass . . .

(Steve) “So, if people would never disagree, never have their own ideas and input, you’d be good with that?”

Silence. They stammered and said that they didn’t mean it to be so concrete, but I think they did. I understood their frustration and it all boils down to this . . . Working with people is messy !! That is why it ROCKS to work with people !!

I don’t think anyone wants to be in a situation of constant turmoil. However, that is not usually the case for people in most workplaces. We tend to manage and lead to the extremes, so when frustrating people and/or situations arise, we think that ALL people are now awful. It really is intriguing because another component that usually comes along with these impasses is that the OTHER people involved are the frustrating ones . . . never us.

Too many HR people want to manage from the outside and keep things clean and tidy. The more “defined” everything is at work, the more control you wield. It isn’t true actually, but it’s how we feel.

If you truly want to practice diversity, leadership and development in your companies, then you need to dive into the fray and get messed up yourself !! Show people your quirks, your vulnerabilities and your willingness to show them how HUMAN you are !!

I readily admit that I’m a mess. It’s how I approach things because it allows me to meet people where they are and not where I think they should be. It has led to more situations working themselves out versus causing more frustration.

This week, get messy !! You’ll love it !!

Savor Every Moment !!

I am digging that the Olympics are on !! I’ve loved watching both the Summer and Winter Games since 1972. The thing that is unfortunate, to me, this year is that people on Social Media are raking NBC over the coals because our “instant society” has results before the athlete even completes an event.

On top of that, people are scathing about how the network is slower than we can post, blog or tweet. In doing this, I think they take away the performance of the athletes, the compelling human drama and the visual appeal of watching the event unfold. I never look for the results, and if I happen to see one, I still watch the event with anticipation.

You may say this is naive or old fashioned, but I think it calls to mind an imbalance in life that social media has afforded us. Let me share two quick stories . . .

On Friday, I went to the retirement dinner of my 70 year old Dad. He had worked for the Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative as the Accountant. His career for the last 22 years was for a small company in a rural town in Ohio. It was spectacular !! They told stories about my Dad and his “Donisms” which brought the room to tears with laughter. When my Dad spoke, he got a bit choked up thanking the company for the ability to earn a good wage with benefits. He pointed to his family and said, “Look how much you have provided for me so that I am blessed to have provided for my family.” Amazing !!

Tonight we had a cookout with four close girls basketball families and their Coach (w/ family) one last time before the girls head to college. We laughed, reminisced and enjoyed our company one last time as a tight knit group. We vowed to meet every Christmas break and summer to make sure we stayed in touch as a group. Phenomenal !!

When it comes to HR, we are tending to be more like the instant world of Social Media versus the picture above called “Holding a Piece of Time.” We rush to immediate action and/or judgement without taking in all aspects of what is involved. We think the “stories” that surround us honestly get in the way of our real jobs.

This week try something new !! Savor the moments around you. Take in everything and see that, more often than not, great things are happening. You can still take in all of the events, enjoy the movement and come to great decisions. In fact, your results will be spectacular. Don’t rush . . . savor !!

Buffaloes, Planes and Wiffle Ball !!

This past week I was completely unplugged as I was at Summer Camp at the Pioneer Scout Reservation with the Boy Scouts. To say it was spectacular would not capture the experience enough !! I know that the idea of camping for a week in 100+ degree weather for a few days followed by 14 straight hours of monsoonlike rain isn’t for everyone, but I wouldn’t trade it in for the world !!

There were so many memories forged, but let me highlight just a few . . .

I slept through a heat lightning thunderstorm in an open field approximately 100 yards from a herd of buffalo at the Wild Winds Buffalo Preserve.
My son flew an airplane including lift off . . . and he’s 14 !!
Our Troop built a wiffle ball field inside our campsite. They made the bases from log pieces cut by them with a two-man saw.
The kids challenged the camp staff to a wiffle ball game on our field and beat them 16 – 6. I was deemed a “traitor” because I put on a staff shirt and hat and played for their team !!

The list could go on and on. The amazing thing is that even when I’m away from the “normal” world of work – HR still happens. Our leaders and scouts went out of our way to bond with the Staff and encourage them in all the great work that they do. Everyday staff members were in our site to socialize, play Euchre (an essential of scouting life !!) and even ask for advice. They are talented young men and women who choose to take their summers to help boys advance in their scouting career.

The best lesson I learned from camp this year was that, because I was disconnected from the outside/electronic/social media world, I could focus. I could focus on what mattered the most . . . the people around me.

Whether it was calming a young kid down from a serious bought of home sickness, or seeing my son become a young man and lead others, you didn’t have the chance to focus on anything else. You could take in every challenge, obstacle and opportunity and encourage, coach and guide people to be successful in what they were pursuing.

We hosted the leaders from the summer camp’s other Troops at our site and I taught them how to share one great thing about their kids and they stayed at our site for 2 1/2 hours sharing amazing things !!

This break from the wild pace of life reminded me that I want to continue to be an HR professional who focused on people first. You know that when we focused on the boys they completed their work, laughed for hours and hours, and worked together to do things that they’d never try on their own.

I think we make HR too hard. I am taking the lessons from this past week and implementing them even more. So, each night I’m going outside to gaze into the night sky and breathe deep to keep me grounded. Of course I’ll be wearing tie-dye, and you can see that this legacy will continue with at least a handful of young men for years to come.

Knowing Others . . . On Purpose !!

I’m about to disconnect for the next week as I head with my son and Troop 941 to Summer Camp. It’s one of the best things I do each year !! It allows me to take in nature, be around great kids/adults and meet others that I never would have known before !!

It made me think of something that has been happening more and more often. I LOVE networking with folks !! I have this huge capacity to try to connect with as many people as humanly possible. That’s just how God wired me.

I do this a bit differently than I’ve seen others lately doing somethings I’d love to see change. I wanted to encourage each of you who are kind enough to read this blog to try something when it comes to this “networking” thing . . . be intentional !!

I get a ton of Linked In requests each week. It’s cool because, like I said, I love connecting with people. However, most of the requests I get use the standard line from the platform. It says that we’re “friends” even though we’ve never met, and there’s no reason given why someone wants to connect. I find this intriguing !!

I always send a note giving a reason for someone to consider if they want to accept, if they want to connect, or why we should try to do this !! I do this on purpose because if you’re willing to be a connection, then you need to know that you just entered into a relationship that will be fully intentional.

Valuing people and what they bring to relationships is missing these days. Some people spend time “collecting” others to beef up their social media numbers thinking that volume gives them more credibility or a voice. Odd.

Now, I’m connected to literally 1,000’s of people. Here’s what’s different. I do my best to reach out to folks and drop them a line, give them a surprise call, note what’s happening to them through Facebook, Twitter, Linked In etc. These platforms can be used to truly connect people, but they are just a gateway. The next step is up to you !!

So, I plan to keep connecting and meeting folks everywhere I can. I hope that they want to reciprocate and be intentional as well. When that happens, then you can see amazing things occur. It also allows you to be sincere in making your connections link with others.

This week . . . let’s make “different” the norm. Be intentional !! You’ll love it !!

I’m Certified !!

Three years ago, I went through one of the most harrowing professional experiences that you can have in HR !! I sat for my SPHR certification. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this trial, let me explain . . .

To get your certification in HR (either your PHR, SPHR or GPHR) from the HR Certification Institute (HRCI), you need to pass an exam which takes up to 4 hours to complete. It is monstrous !! When I went to take my exam, I entered a testing facility where you had to empty your pockets and put any personal items in a small locker before entering a room full of computer monitors.

The certification test is multiple choice, and you’re thinking, “Multiple choice? That’s cake. I loved those types of tests in school. If all else fails, guess ‘B’ ” Remember? Not the same by a long shot. They have study classes that last 8 to 10 weeks just to get you prepared to take this test !! I remember taking the practice exams between 40 to 50 times just to learn material. (And those were old tests whose questions didn’t appear on the one I took !!)

The test allows you to skip questions, go back to them, line out answers you think are wrong, and then choose what you think is “right.” Most of the questions have at least two of the four choices that could be right. When you see “All of the Above” as an option, you start to get the shakes !! How could ALL of the answers be right?

I finished the test with about 45 minutes to spare. I reviewed my answers and made sure I was ready to “submit.” Then in classic SHRM/HRCI style, when I hit submit a survey popped up asking me what I thought of the process and the exam. I was ticked !! All I wanted to see was pass or fail. I rapidly hit “5” for everything was awesome, now please give me my results. Then when I submitted the survey, the screen went blank. BLANK !! I thought I was going to pass out !!

Then . . . it said I passed. I received my SPHR !! I wanted to scream, but I thought the test proctor would taze me. So, I hurried out of the room and burst into tears. The proctor looked up and said, “You must be one of those HR folks. Congratulations.” Through my sobs, I thanked her, gathered my belongings from the locker and went home.

This week I recertified which means that I had enough professional development to retain my certification for three more years. So, what does this story have to do with anything?

One of the keys that CEO’s, who were interviewed by SHRM, said was needed from HR in their organizations was that HR was knowledgeable in what the field does. This was more than the administrative necessities of the job. It meant that Senior Management expects us to be experts in what HR is, does and contributes.

When we yearn to be “part of the business,” the first thing we need to do is be experts in all things HR. Being well versed in what HR does, and then gaining professional development to keep current and relevant is critical !!

It’s time for YOU to take that step that I honestly avoided for too many years of my career. Getting your certification shows you have credibility and allows you to be in a position to take that step into a senior role when it arrives.

Harrowing or not – it has been the best thing I’ve done professionally and I encourage you to do the same !!

An Intimate 13,500

Had to sit down to write about my experiences at #SHRM12 in Atlanta !! It’s hard to capture some thoughts when you just spent the last four days with 13,000+ HR professionals in one place !!

The sessions were full of tangible content that ranged from entry-level HR material to edgy, thought-provoking strategic forums that were extremely relevant. Three that stood out personally were from Jennifer McClure, Jason Lauritsen and former SHRM Chair, Sue Meisinger.

The keynotes from Jim Collins, Condoleezza Rice, Malcolm Gladwell and Tom Brokaw were spectacular !! Each had a connection to HR in a broader sense. They pushed us to think far outside our normal boundaries.

As a SHRM volunteer (on purpose), a true highlight for me was having time to network, discuss and share with other SHRM leaders. It’s humbling to be the State Director for SHRM in Ohio. Being in this role has great opportunities to move the profession of HR forward !! To also be with others who share this passion is fantastic, and I always look forward to it.

The work of Curtis Midkiff (@shrmsocmedguy) on connecting HR and Social media was incredible. To see many peers in the Dice Blogger’s Lounge as well as the educational area called The Hive, was promising. To see HR start to understand these forums and see where it’s best to connect for them was a key success for the Conference !!

But . . . the TRUE highlight for me was knowing people at the Conference from around the country and then meeting amazing new people !! Everyday I’d be in the Conference Center and here “Hey Steve !!” being shouted down the hall. People from Ohio, Virginia, North Dakota, Illinois, California, Louisiana, Florida, New Jersey, Maryland, Alaska, and many other places. It was so cool !!

I noticed that several of the other attendees also had pockets of people they knew, but most of them kept to people they knew from their State. In the past, I was one of those people too, but things are changing for the better.

HR people are starting to make more connections because they understand that we really do have a ton in common. What is key to this is that there are connectors (like Malcolm Gladwell highlights in his Tipping Point book) who are reaching out and showing folks that being connected results in meaningful relationships. This movement will not only improve HR, it will reshape it.

Next year is Chicago and (for the first time I can say) I can’t wait !!

Staring at a blank page . . .

Who here lives a “full” life? One where it seems you never have enough time to get done what you wanted to accomplish?

The answer is that everyone has a life that’s full. What’s different for us is what we choose to use to fill it. Whenever I hear someone say they don’t have enough time, I truly am skeptical. It doesn’t seem like they’re bored. In fact, when you ask them, they say they’re “busy.” When you ask what they’re busy with, there is rarely a good answer because they really don’t know. They just know they’re exhausted being busy.

Whenever I make a surprise phone call to friends, our first question to each other is, “So, how are you doing?” I usually answer, “Man, I’m full and I love it !!” Then we talk about the amazing things going on in our lives, our families, our friends and our work. I do my best to get off the HR “what’s the new project” talk to make sure that we talk about all facets of our lives.

There are days that do seem to get away from me. I’ve given up the notion that I control much at all. Being in HR, I truly want to be in a position to move things forward while including everyone around me as much as possible. I look at each day as a blank page.

This isn’t some idealistic, pie in the sky, you really can’t live that way approach. It just allows for things to happen at different paces and within the flow that they need to occur.

I mentioned last week that I’ve been on this crusade to list 3 great things a day in my journal. At first, I looked at the blank page in front of my journal and the regular anxiety of what to write crept in. “Would it be interesting enough?” “Am I just going through the motions?” “Did anything great really happen?”

Now, the words pour out of the pen themselves and I stop at 3, but I could write pages and pages. You see, before doing this, being busy was easy and it followed the path of everyone around me. I was frustrated. I felt overwhelmed and out of control. That’s lessened considerably because having the blank page is honestly welcoming.

As you start this work week, and your to-do list is already 14 behind when you roll over to hit the snooze button – stop, breathe, and start over. Start with a blank page and let your day be filled with the great things that are sure to happen to you.

Remember, when you hit the office, you’ll be running into people who are already “full” and won’t be able to get past being busy. Help them out. Add them to your page and see what stories unfold !!

3 Great Things !!

Yesterday we celebrated my daughter’s graduation with a party where family, friends and fellow seniors came from her class to wish her congratulations. Our party was “scheduled” from 2:00pm to 6:00pm, so it made sense that it wrapped up at 10:30pm with friends sitting around a fire pit taking in the great day that we all experienced !!

This day just fit in with what I’ve been following lately and telling others about. There is an amazing book out there from Shawn Achor called The Happiness Advantage. I love the book personally and I’ve taken just one of the many nuggets from the book and have put it into practice. One of the chapters talks about writing a journal and listing 3 great things that happened the day before. The study that was conducted said that people who did this for only one week were more positive for up to six months later.

I shared this with the State Council of Ohio SHRM and asked everyone to start a journal because they work with great HR folks in their chapters and their workplaces. There were two great folks from SHRM their as well and I asked them to join in (and they have). Sensing the momentum and the incredible response, I introduced the 3 great things journal to my own HR department that I head as well as the GM’s from our restaurants, the leaders of our Ops group and some of our Executives !!

The results have been amazing (and we’re two weeks into it.) In fact, a group of the OHSHRM presidents and I have been listing one of our “great things” on Twitter every day since the Council meeting – EVERY day !!

There are so many great and positive things around us, and we have the option to choose whether we’ll face each day negatively or positively. It doesn’t mean that things don’t get rough or that challenges aren’t present. However, HOW you approach things is in your control. As humans, and as HR professionals, it’s time to change how we approach the phenomenal people that are all around us.

I know it works !! It’s not some parlor trick or “trend,” it’s a way of life. Try it out and let me know how your journal builds and flows. You’ll start noticing amazing things that have been right in front of you all the time.

By the way – journal entry from yesterday:

1) Scout friends coming over to set up the massive dining fly/tent we had for the party early in the morning !!

2) Sitting around the fire pit and taking in the day’s memories !!

and (most importantly)

3) My daughter with my Mom getting a hand made quilt for graduation. A family tradition of love and creativity that my Mom does for all the grandkids. Here it is . . .

Lest We Forget . . .

You may or may not know this, but I am a big geek !! I always have been, and am quite cool with it. In school I was in the geeky clubs, the nerdy societies and even had the giant tortoise shell glasses during the 80’s (with the essential feathered hair to compliment the look !!)

Tomorrow, I get to be with my fellow geeks to do something amazing !! You see, every year I march in the Memorial Day parade in West Chester, Ohio with my Boy Scout Troop. I am the Scoutmaster of said Troop, and there are very few things in life that I give more credence to than working with the Scouts. There are tons of scouts who come out for this annual tradition.

We’ll gather tomorrow around 9:00am and march two miles to the local cemetery for a Memorial Day ceremony that always brings me to tears. To see the people who have served, and continue to serve, our country always humbles me. In the midst of our gathering, we are surrounded by veterans who have passed dating back to the Revolutionary War.

It’s easy for us to continue with our lives every day and never take note of those who serve for our country. We’ve been at war for over a decade, and we’re more concerned with who may play in the NBA finals, or who wins Celebrity Apprentice. Don’t get me wrong, I live the same way. Tomorrow, that cloud lifts and I can take time to be thankful and grateful for those who step in harm’s way for my freedom.

As professionals in HR, we can do our part by getting behind the good work of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). We can also use the Veterans Hiring Toolkit from SHRM to help support the America’s Heroes at Work initiative from the DOL.

If those aren’t an option for you as an employer, there is one thing that ALL of us can do. A dear friend of mine told me that every time she sees someone in fatigues or uniform in public, she goes up to them and says “Thank You for Your Service.” This simple gesture means that world to people. Once I heard this from her, I’ve been doing it ever since.

This Memorial Day, step out and be a little geeky. The men and women of our Armed Services deserve no less.

The Mystique of HR ??

At a recent HR Roundtable I facilitate, an attendee gave the answer that “HR isn’t in the trenches to keep up the ‘Mystique of HR’ !!” I doubled over in laughter and so did the room. However, then he gave some background to his answer. He said, “HR keeps people guessing as to what they do, and why they do it, so employees are never clear about what HR does.” The room then fell silent.

It fell silent, because the context he gave around his answer truly hit home with those at the Roundtable and with me personally. How can I work in a profession where people think that some mystical being is behind some magical field of smoke and illusion in order to practice the art of Human Resources?

Unfortunately, the sentiment echoed at the Roundtable has truth to it. We have allowed HR to be someplace people “go to.” It’s a destination with some unknown consequence just waiting to be unleashed on people for coming to visit. (cue dark, scary music)

Can you even think of another industry that allows “ambiguity” to be it’s brand ?? I can’t.

The only way this moniker and conception of the whirling mists dissipate is for us to be forthright in who we are and what we do. We can’t want people to see our value, we have to BRING IT !! If people in your organization don’t know what HR is, or what they offer to the business, then it’s up to YOU to change that. This isn’t Senior Managment’s job and you can’t wait for it to be written into the Strategic Plan. You have to model clarity and consistency in how you drive HR throughout the organization.

This isn’t a pipe dream – it’s an expectation. We can’t continue to think that HR will one day in the distant future get recognized for the invaluable contributions it tirelessly, and selflessly brings each day to the workplace. (cue the Heavenly AAAAAHHHHS here)

I love the field I’m in and I work to make it an integral part of my company and encourage others in HR to do the same. I think we need to take our cue from the sage philosopher Bruce Hornsby in his classic “The Way It Is.” The chorus goes:

“That’s just the way it is. That’s just the way it is. Ahh, but don’t you believe them !!”

We can, and must, eliminate the mystique of HR. We can’t continue to let people guess what we do. I’m in . . . are you ??