Quit looking for the Silver Bullet !!

Recently, I had the opportunity to be the opening speaker at the Northern Ohio HR Conference (NOHRC). It was a great time and I appreciate people slogging through the 4 inches of snow to make it out for a day full of quality professional development !!

I’m not sure what the attendees expected from my presentation, but one thing that didn’t happen (and never will) was that I didn’t give anyone a “silver bullet.”  I didn’t do this because I don’t think they exist.

Conference attendees keep looking for “best practices” and ways to copy what successful HR efforts have already been done.  I struggle with this because I follow the tenet I heard from Dave Ulrich (paraphrasing) – Best practices are always behind. HR should be creating NEXT practices !!

It’s a great philosophy to follow because I truly think that HR can, and should, move things forward both in the profession and in their organizations.  To do that you have to do two things: (1) Create the future and (2) Act !!

The time of “let’s see what happens” and “I want my seat at the Table” are gone.  In order for HR to remain relevant and sustainable, it has to create and act in order to be integrated within organizations.

Don’t say it can’t be done either !!  Companies and Sr. Management are looking for HR to be integrated.  They don’t need administrative death traps that only look at what is compliant or not.

So, what can we do?  How can we help the profession and practitioners see that there are so many ways to help HR move forward ??

Well, Jason Lauritsen and I are going to facilitate a session at HRevolution 2011 at the end of April which will attempt to gather the thoughts of a great group of HR pros to see what they think and how WE (that means ALL HR professionals) can move HR forward.

I have a feeling that many “bullets” will be shared and I can’t wait !!  I already have my Kevlar fitted.  Jason and I want to see HR move ahead.  How about you ??

And the Mentor goes to . . .

On Sunday night, much of the United States will watch some, if not all, of the Oscars, and we will talk about the stars.  We’ll talk about how they dress, who they’re with, what party they go to, etc. etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge movie fan !!  I love to see almost any movie and there are some great choices this year. But, have you noticed something?  The key awards where the stars win are given the best spots, the most time to gush during an acceptance speech and we expect them to be memorable.  However, the people who are behind the scenes like the screenwriters, make-up, score and others are clipped short even though they have reached the same pinnacle.  We just don’t WANT to see them.  It’s sad.  To make a movie you need hundreds of people and yet few ever get credit.

It’s a lot like mentors.  Great mentors are people who are there for you throughout your career either to move you ahead, stop you from falling into a career-ending ravine, or just to listen.  Mentors are something that is essential for every person in today’s business climate of constant change.  You need an anchor !!

Let me tell you about my mentor.  His name is Fred Eck and he is the current HR Manager for Atlas Roofing.  He’ll probably kill me for making this much about him, but you have to hear about how a great mentor does this naturally.

Fred has held almost every SHRM leadership position there is at the chapter, State and Regional level.  In fact, he’s the Program Chair for me this year for the 2011 Ohio HR Conference, and I couldn’t think of a better person to be in this critical role to our conference’s success !!

I talk to Fred two to three times a week just to check in, talk about life and get a piece of wisdom – which he always has.  We are inseperable at Conferences or SHRM meetings.

Now, if you look for Fred online, you’ll find him on Linked In and I even convinced him to join Twitter, but you won’t see a lot of Tweets from him (yet). You see Fred is like that great screewriter or the the cameraman who captures the perfect scene.  He’s not the visible person up front who gets all the accolades, but you couldn’t do the movie without him. He’s taught me several things, but one pearl of wisdom has set the stage for me.

“You can’t be a mentor – without having a mentor.”

I am a mentor now too to a few people.  I won’t tell you who they are because that is not necessary.  I want them to grow to be future businesspeople who will make anything I ever get to do seem minor.

So often lately, I get the feeling that we keep focusing on the HR voices who are edgy, visible, contrary and larger-than-life. I think they are doing great work, but I don’t want us to forget the thousands who are behind the scenes making this happen.

So the Mentor goes to . . . Fred Eck !!  I’m going to sit back now and listen to his acceptance speech no matter how long it goes !!

Image courtesy of There from Here Blog