Month: May 2012

are you a simplifier or a complicator?

In an interview in the June/July 2012 issue of Switchback magazine, Specialized founder Mike Sinyard mentions that bike designer Robert Egger has told him, “Hey, you want people here that are simplifiers not complicators.”

No surprise, but I love this concept. Simplifiers make it easy to get things done, make it easy for the customer, make it easy for employees, make it easy for leaders. Complicators bring the drama, politics, the tome-thick rule book, bureaucracy, silos, fiefdoms, roadblocks…

This applies to every position in every department in every organization, but I bring it to HR. I touched on this a little bit with the post simplify, then add lightness. Now, let’s go further. Imagine what HR would look like, how HR would operate if it was a simplifier that made it easier for leaders to make great decisions. I’ve never really had words for it before, but that’s what HR looks like inside my head.

So which are you?

4 life balance myths

Work/life balance. The Holy Grail of our modern age. We all want it, feel like we can never have it, and feel frustrated because of it. There are several myths that prevent us from really understanding what life balance is about and how we could achieve it.

 

Myth #1: We can have it all

A few years back, Jack Welch famously said, “There is no such thing as work-life balance. There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.” And, of course, he was spot-on right. We want to believe that we can have it all, but we can’t. Time in a day is limited and any time we choose to spend doing one activity is time that we can’t choose to spend doing another. Jack referred to consequences, which is a bit of a loaded word because we tend to think of consequences as always being negative. Let me rephrase it as: we all make work-life choices and that creates certain results or outcomes.

Because my work-life choices have consequences (or outcomes), I need to be very clear on what outcomes I want and what choices will lead to those outcomes. If I want results X but am making choices that leads to results Y then I’m going to feel very dissatisfied and out of balance.

Balance requires clarity of outcomes and choices that support the outcomes we want.

 

Myth #2: There is such a thing as work-life balance

The term “work/life balance” is a huge misnomer and sets us up for failure. Work is a part of our life, not something separate acting against it. It would sound ridiculous to refer to sleep/life balance, meals/life balance, hobby/life balance, family/life balance, shopping/life balance, etc. Work is not something separate and thinking that our life stops while we’re on the clock at work and starts again once we’re home sounds like a great way to resent your job and be miserable for a significant portion of your life. Let’s instead focus on it as “life balance”. It’s a small, subtle, yet powerful difference.

Brian Tracy made a big impact on me when he said, “If you find that you have no desire to excel in your field, this is a good sign that it’s probably not the right job for you.” Paying the bills comes always comes first, but when we find ourselves living for the weekend, it’s time to either change how we’re thinking about our job or start considering other ways to pay the bills. All jobs, no matter how much we love them, are sometimes difficult and aggravating. The question is always: is it worth it? Life is far too long to be miserable 8+ hours every day.

 

Myth #3: Life balance is about hours worked

If you know what results you want, make choices that support those results , and enjoy every aspect of your life, the number of hours at work is largely meaningless. If you despise your job, even working a few hours a week would be miserable. If you love your job, living by the clock would be very frustrating. If given the choice between 40 hours of hellish soul robbing frustration or 60 hours of exciting, challenging, fulfillment, which would you rather have? Which would your family rather you have?

It’s not a choice between work or life. It’s about viewing work as a part of the whole life. Life balance requires seeking fulfillment in all areas of our life

 

Myth #4: There is a finish line to life balance

A major source of life balance frustration is thinking that it’s ever done. There is no finish line. We never, ever reach a point where we get to check “Balance Life” off of our To Do list.

The way it was explained to me years ago is that balancing life is a bit like balancing on one foot. Try it. Stand up and lift up one leg. It’s not particularly difficult to do, but notice how much you are actually moving your body, making small and subtle corrections. If you were to stand perfectly still, you couldn’t balance – you’d actually fall over. (It’s actually really, really difficult to stand perfectly still because your body knows better.)

Life balance is the same. It is dynamic, not static. Even when things are really going will and all in sync, you’ll still be making corrections. More time working one week, more time with the family another, less time on hobbies, and so on, all trading off as you balance the choices that will lead to the outcomes you want in all areas of your life.

hr: bring the noise

Gareth Jones recently blogged on the question, “HR: Where’s the Passion?” There are some massively talented, bright, and passionate people in HR. I’ve worked with a few, met a few, and regularly read blogs by a few. There are some really inspiring superstars out there, but on the average…? Gareth got me thinking a bit and maybe you really don’t see much passion overall.

I think HR is one of the best fields there is because it lives at the intersection of Business and Humans. Companies die, survive, or thrive based on the people they attract, retain, and develop and HR is the department that can make that happen. What could be cooler?! (If you want more of my take on the awesomeness of HR, try why HR rocks or human resources’ top goal? .)

Of course, I also wrote why I wouldn’t hire an HR person for an HR job so even though I’m passionate about the field I do have concerns. So, as Gareth asks, where is the passion? I don’t know for sure, but do have a few thoughts:

  • Until recently, HR was very administrative as a field and it still is in many organizations. Processing and filing paperwork as the focus of a job does not require passion to be successful. In fact, having passion probably makes you ill-suited for any long term success at the job.
  • HR in some organizations can get overly focused on bureaucracy and make policy enforcement the core function. Again, not a place that rewards passion.
  • HR managers who believe their #1 job is to prevent lawsuits end up with HR departments that are fearful, rigid, and focused on everything you can’t do instead of what you can do. Passionate people want to be engaged and  active and accomplishing, not timid roadblocks.
  • HR theoretically extends throughout the organization yet can end up very siloed or excluded. That doesn’t attract or keep people who want to make a difference.
  • In times past, HR was often a dumping ground: a place for people not meeting expectations who the company didn’t have the heart to get rid of or a place to “promote” secretaries to when the company didn’t know what else to do with them. These were people who didn’t love HR to begin with and were just coasting out the end of their careers.
  • HR is a tough, tough job. Employees and managers are often only involved with HR when things are intense and going badly. Tough decisions have to be made. Laws and regulations are often ambiguous, confusing, or even contradictory. People get nervous when you call them, fearing the worst. Not many people stop by just to say thanks. So, even those who enter the field all full of passion and zeal can get beaten down pretty quick.
  • Finally, because of all this, I think there are very few role models to teach newcomers that it’s ok to be enthusiastic and love your work and do great stuff and HR is the place to do that.

But, I think it’s changing. I’m seeing more and more blogs by folks who see HR as the place to make a difference. Social media is letting like-minded folk across the planet connect and share ideas and see that they are not alone. We are getting more and more role models in the field.

Speak up, make some noise, and rock the HR banner a little higher!

change keeps on changing

“…the core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people and behavior change happens… mostly by speaking to people’s feelings.” ~ John Kotter

We want to believe that us humans are rational beings governed by reason and logic. We really, really want to believe this, despite our entire life experience. As near as I can tell, the strongest thing we can say is that we have the capacity to be rational, but we use nearly all of that capacity to explain, rationalize, and justify the decisions we’ve made with feeling and emotion.

This concept has been studied and demonstrated for years. Advertisers know it and use it to their advantage. They create change by hooking us on feelings of fun, status, sex appeal, freedom, control, power, hope, fear, etc.

Rationally, we know that too much of anything is bad for us. So, if we made rational decisions, none of us would suffer from too much food, alcohol, smoking, etc. Emotion drives us to action, intellect justifies it and makes it reasonable.

There are exactly 1.7 bagillion books, articles, and classes on change and change management. Companies are in turmoil as they try to keep up with the world and the best ones are using change to their advantage to continually evolve.

The problem is that we fall for the myth of rationality and think that big change = analyze à think à change. We look at options, analyze the pros and cons of each, decide, and move forward. When we focus on speaking to emotions it becomes:  see à feel à change. We see or visualize the outcome, feel what it will be like once we have made the change, and then take action.

The problem is that both are an oversimplification and we are driven by both. Some people are more analytical, some are driven more by instinct and emotion, but we all have a deep need to understand the reason behind the change AND emotionally connect to the benefits of the change.

We need both to create the motivation for change in ourselves, in our teams, in our companies. So, what can we do to better address our intellectual and emotional needs around change?

Your take?

 

short book review: Dangerous Ideas by Alf Rehn

Innovation and creativity are all the buzz. You can’t escape the flash flood of blogs and articles telling you how to be more creative. I had gotten pretty jaded and had started thinking that maybe we should worry less about being Innovative (with a capital “I”) and worry more about just making better stuff and providing better service.

I want to believe that the true masters of creativity and  innovation do NOT start the day with a big whoop and a cheer of “Let’s innovate today!” Rather, they just relentlessly ask how they can improve things and look beyond the walls of their own fields and ideas. They ignore how it’s “supposed” to be done and instead do it right.

That’s where this book comes in. The subtitle is “When Provocative Thinking Becomes Your Most Valuable Asset” and Alf delights in being provocative and contrarian. He works hard to keep us thinking creatively about creative thinking.

I found it a straightforward and good read. It flows well and moves right along, which is a bit of a rarity amongst business books with substance. And it does have substance. Some of the high points:

  • He shows how people typically approach creativity from very uncreative ways. And why that shouldn’t surprise us.
  • Alf takes on the Belief around the cult of innovation that prevents us from innovating and he shows how our brains are hardwired to avoid innovative thinking. He goes on to point out that our discomfort with being different causes us to back off and prevents truly creative thoughts.
  • Creativity is hard freakin’ work. It’s unpleasant. It’s difficult. It involves wrestling with the unknown and untried. No wonder people resist.
  • When innovation is more hindrance than blessing (blasphemy?).
  • How and why copying other ideas plays a big role in actual innovation. What, you say, copying is not creative! Well, you may be wrong (hint: Steve Jobs did not actually invent the MP3 player).
  • Why we only think we want a bunch of creative people in the company.
  • The fun of conflict and value of opposition when trying to think creatively.
  • Diversity and creativity and why efforts at diversity generally come up lacking real diversity.
  • “The World’s Shortest Course of Creativity”. Yes, he does actually provide ideas and exercises to help you be more creative. It shouldn’t surprise you that they are probably not quite what you’re expecting.
  • The importance of shutting off creativity and actually producing something. Analytical types suffer “paralysis of analysis” and creatives can get caught in a similar whirlpool of thinking, thinking, and thinking some more without actually doing. That doesn’t help.

All in all, a very good take on creativity and innovation and one that I have enthusiastically already recommended to others. A little hard to track down in the States (the internet is your friend), but well worth the effort.

wisdom of the ages

As I rapidly approach middle age, I’ve noticed that I have collected some core beliefs, lessons, and philosophies over the years. If you stand next to me long enough, you’ll hear me say all of these things. From my experience, they are universal and apply across cultures, gender, race, industries, etc. That said, your mileage may vary, use at your own risk, etc.

It’s all about priorities. This explains ALL human behavior. We all have different priorities, but behave in ways that support our highest priorities. Even when someone’s behavior is completely inexplicable, rest assured they are honoring their most sacred priorities.

Everyone needs a hobby. We all need activities that bring us joy, excitement, and pleasure. For some it’s mountain biking or scrapbooking or watching football or music. For others, it’s gossiping, creating drama, putting others down, playing the victim, etc.

I have reasons, other people have excuses. That’s the difference between a reason and an excuse, but really I just have excuses. I use this as a reminder that even though my explanations make complete sense to me, they are really only excuses. To quote the great Mark Twain: “There are a thousand excuses for failure, but not a single good reason.”

Imperfect action beats perfect inaction. Perfectionism destroys more than it creates. This is a lesson I keep learning over and over. In most cases it’s far, far better to take action, notice what’s not working, make corrections, and keep going than it is to wait until I’m 100% certain of everything before moving forward.

Some things are better to have done than to do. I learned this during a long, sometimes grueling backpacking trip through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Although it was very difficult doing it and there were quite a few stretches when I really wanted to quit, I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. But really, this applies to any situation where we are deferring gratification and enduring in the short term to gain in the long term.

The #1 leadership secret is… there are no leadership secrets. All leadership is on display and any of us could quickly compile a list of traits of our best and worst bosses. Interestingly, those lists would be remarkably similar, even going across industry and culture. Want to be a great leader? Do what your best managers did, don’t do what your worst managers did, and you’ll be off to a really great start.

The best ideas in the world are worthless, until the moment they are put into action. Theory is nice and pleasant and fun. Application is what changes the world. Action without thought is counterproductive, but thought without action is meaningless.

So what wisdom would you add to the list?

ways to make HR awesome

If you think the purpose of HR is to prevent the company from getting sued, please quit and go work for the competition right now.

Realize HR has customers.  Make life simpler, easier, better for your customers. Solve your customer’s problems.

Become so good at customer service that people brag that your company has the Nordstrom’s of HR.

Consider the possibility that the purpose of HR is to help leaders make better decisions. [So says David Ayre of Nike and I agree with him.] Own it, rock it, develop processes around it. Make it your mission to help leaders make better selection, training, retention, and de-selection decisions.

Making a difference in people’s lives and impacting results is fun. Administration is the necessary evil of HR. Nail administration so you can move on to the fun.

Develop a love and understanding for business. Read the HR mags if you want, but also get into Forbes, Fortune, WSJ, Fast Company, Time, The Economist. Maybe inc. or Entrepreneur. Become a business person who gets HR rather than an HR person gets business (or worse, an HR person who is vaguely aware of this thing called “business”).

Ditch the HR mags and read the scholarly journals like Personnel Psychology.

Attend conferences focused on the core business of the company you support. Maybe skip the HR conference this year (blasphemy!) and attend a manufacturing, banking, engineering, retail, etc. conference.

Leave your office. Go talk to people outside your department.

Attend conferences for the departments you support. Do you have any idea how much you would learn and how much you would freak people out if you attended, say, a CFO conference?

Spend a day observing and shadowing a key customer.

Play to win. Have fun. Make a freakin’ difference.

Other ideas?

creating HR value

Creating value is about making things simpler, easier, better, quicker, or more effective for the customer. If it’s not solving our customer’s problems – and solving them better than the other options – it’s time to seriously re-evaluate why we’re doing it. Unfortunately, bad HR doesn’t get that: 1) HR has customers; and 2) it’s all about customer service.

[I originally wrote this in response to a great blog post by Tim Sackett but it stands alone pretty well.]

4 types of people at work

At risk of oversimplifying, we tend to view people at work in one of four ways based on their productivity and personality. Selection, promotion, and development decisions are made based on what category we see people in.

It looks a little like this:

 

Jerk

Good with People
High Results

Tolerate?

Super Star
Low Results

Why are they here?

Tolerate?
  1. Good with people and gets great results: we all love these folks. They’re great to be around and they get things done. Co-workers like them, customers like them, and management likes them. We hate, hate, hate to see these people go.
  2. Pleasant person with low results: we tend to like them, wish they’d do more, but make allowances for them because they are easy to work with and don’t cause anyone trouble. They do a great job of building relationships and are liked by customers and liked or tolerated by co-workers and management. Nice compensates a lot for low productivity.
  3. Jerk with high results: we can’t stand them, but they are often tolerated by management because they get things done. They often don’t realize how much they are getting in their own way and how much higher their career would climb if they were easier to get along with. They don’t understand that relationships matter.
  4. Jerk who doesn’t do anything: universally hated. Don’t be this person; don’t manage this person. Any manager who keeps one of these folks on the team instantly loses credibility. They thrive in teams with weak managers and cause a disproportionate amount of damage to the culture and work environment. In an ideal world, everyone in this category would be working for your competition. Realistically, there are a few in your organization right now acting as giant brake on progress.

What do you think? Spot on? Too simple? What are your experiences with these four types of people?