Breaking Bottlenecks !!

Control.

Is it something we really have?  Why do people continue to struggle to control things?  It may be human nature to make us feel stable or have stasis vs. imbalance, but what does control lead to?

I think it leads to bottlenecks.  Bottlenecks are unnecessary blockades in our workplace today that are caused, more often than not, because of the need for control.  There’s an on-going feeling that if things funnel through the fewest people, then we have a better chance of being efficient and productive.  Some people are very successful at this and rise to the top of their organizations.  In fact, being a control freak is sometimes rewarded in organizations.

The past two weeks I’ve seen a different approach that excites me !!  Ironically, for those of you in HR, both involved SHRM (at the State Level).

The first experience was at the Indiana SHRM Leadership Day !! I was fortunate enough to be the “keynote” speaker and talked about HR being involved in Social Media.  Brad Galin and Angie Brawdy did a fab job of getting the SHRM chapter boards to attend.   I’ve heard a ton of presentations about this topic, but I took a different approach.  I opened with “Ice, Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice (because it’s Vanilla Ice) and encouraged folks to be: I ntentional, C onnected and E ngaged to the level they feel comfortable.  Instead of beating them to death for not being uberinvolved in every platform and comparing themselves to social media giants, I encouraged them to break out and find their own way.

The second experience came at the Ohio SHRM Leadership Day the following week where we had a Boot Camp !!  Each chapter was encouraged to send multiple volunteer leaders and the focus the whole day was on them.  Teaching them about resources, laughing, encouraging them and having fun in helping them become successful.

The bottlenecks of communication that can so easily be built were blown away because more people heard the messages.  They were able to take things in, filter them and decide how to move forward because they were ALL capable !!

It was great to see people energized about HR and  how they can be involved !!  Bottlenecks were broken these last two weeks and I want to encourage you to see where bottlenecks are in your organizations and see if you can get them unclogged.

Remember the sage words of Vanilla Ice . . .

“Stop, collaborate and listen . . .”  It works !! Peace out !!