HR

shrinking comfort zones: the quick path to nowhere

Your comfort zones are either expanding or shrinking – there isn’t any middle ground. Either you’re stepping across the line, challenging yourself, moving a bit into the unknown and pushing back the boundaries OR you’re backing away from the line. Each time you step back so that you can stay with the familiar and comfortable, the line draws in, so you have to step back again, and again it shrinks.

The world it is a changin’ (duh!). Jobs are moving off shore or going away or radically evolving. A sure ticket to failure is to stand still, refuse to change and insist (insist!) that the world not change either. Problem is, the world’s changing whether we like it or not. The jobs of tomorrow are not going to look like the jobs of today. Want to stay employed? Stay relevant. Challenge yourself. Learn. Grow. Push your boundaries. Take on challenges you wouldn’t normally take on.

The more we try to stay safe by not changing, the more at risk we are of being completely behind. My prediction is that anyone who isn’t focused on improving and developing new skills each and every year will soon be either underemployed or unemployed. BUT, I’m not necessarily referring to technology. Technology facilitates a lot of changes, but is becoming more and more user friendly (anyone remember punch cards?).

The biggest growth potential that I see needed is in change, communication, and relationship development. As an HR pro or manager or employee, can you have the tough conversations you need to have? Can you hold people accountable? Can you influence people who don’t report to you? Can you use technology to enhance your communication instead of complicating it? Can you develop the trust and relationships that will enable you to get twice as much done with half the angst? Or do you leave it up to other people who are “better at it.”?

You’re either moving forward or falling behind in direct relationship to the rate you are pushing your comfort zone. Avoiding the difficult or unpleasant parts of the job – often the parts that involve other people – is a fast track to irrelevance.

why are your employees leaving you?

A friend posted this on Facebook recently: “People don’t leave because things are hard. They leave because it’s no longer worth it.”

I tried unsuccessfully for three or four seconds to track down the source, but it seemed to be anonymous. Most of the places I found it were using it as relationship advice, but the first thing I thought of was leadership and employee turnover.

It’s not hard work or tough situations that causes good people to quit. It’s rare that people find easy, simple work satisfying or fulfilling. Think back to the times when you were most satisfied and fulfilled at work. Chances are you had recently earned a hard fought success, pressed hard, stretched your abilities, and just generally kicked booty. Think back to the times when you were just coasting along – how satisfied were you? People don’t leave because work is tough. People leave because the upsides don’t balance the downsides.

They leave because of fire drills, knee jerk reactions, lack of appreciation (or even acknowledgement), thankless efforts, frustrating co-workers, stifling bureaucracy, arbitrary decisions, favoritism, patronizing attitudes, harassment, and even apathy. When people leave because of “more money” it is often not about the money. The extra dollars are nice, but what they’re really saying is, “I don’t get rewarded enough to put up with this job (and/or my manager). This new job looks like it won’t have these headaches and, even if it does, I’ll at least be paid more to deal with it.”

If you’re experiencing unwanted turnover, the question to be asking is: “What would make it worth it for people to stay?”

 

 

why I wouldn’t hire an HR person for an HR job

I can be pretty judgmental about Human Resources because it’s my field, I’m passionate about what it can do for business, and I’m appalled at how many HR “professionals” want to hold the field in the stone age. But really, Human Resources is no different than any other field. A few people are really, really passionate about and great at their jobs, most are fair to middlin’, and there’s a group at the bottom that really drag things down. As the old saying goes: there’s the people who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened.

If I were filling an HR spot today, I’d be inclined to look well outside the field. I’m pretty sure I could train a top performer to be a great HR pro quicker and easier than I could take an existing HR pro and help them to be great. That was Nucor Steel’s insight when they located their plants in rural areas outside of the rustbelt: they found it easier to teach farmers to be steelworkers than to teach steelworkers a different way of doing things. I’ve seen this applied in other industries: I know of an owner of auto repair stores who hires his store managers from popular restaurants. He has found it’s much easier to teach a restaurant manager about the auto repair business than to teach mechanics to excel at providing a great customer experience.

Would I really not hire a human resources person for a human resources job? I would, but here’s what I’d be looking for:

  • They really, really get that the focus is on customer service and managing the customer experience.
  • They are collaborative problem solvers who strive to figure out how to do something vs. deflecting innovation with the shield of bureaucracy.
  • They view themselves as a business person with an HR focus vs an HR person who somehow ended up working in a business.
  • They are FUN. I want to surround myself with people who enjoy their job and enjoy their lives. Managers and employees should look forward to visiting HR, not feel like they’ve entered a crypt. HR is tough, tough, tough. A lot of the job involves difficult conversations because people haven’t been at their best. It’s easy to get bitter, cynical, and self-righteous. But please do it at my competitor’s company, not mine.
  • They get stuff done. They don’t talk about how busy they are or use “I tried, but…” as an excuse. They produce.
  • They enjoy helping people.
  • They love learning and improving their skills.
  • They are driven to succeed AND value the team’s success as much as they value their own success.
  • They have been exposed to finance, accounting, marketing, sales, etc. They don’t need to be an expert, but should understand how the business works and how all the departments fit together.
  • They like innovation and view change as a core part of progress. If you hate or fear change, please go work for someone else.
  • And, yeah, they should probably know something about employment law and HR best practices. But, if they have the rest, this one is the easy one to teach. I can’t teach someone to have fun (even when the job isn’t fun) or to enjoy change, or to enjoy the hard work of self-improvement, but HR basics I can do.

That’s my wish list. What’s yours?

The Purpose of HR

I hate the term “Human Resources” because it misses the point. A better name is: “Individual and Organizational Performance.” The way I see it Human Resources has only two functions: 1) Enable employees to perform at their very best; and 2) Enable managers to bring out the best in their employees. That’s it. Everything HR does either supports employees and managers at being their absolute best or gets in their way.

Great HR is a collaborative consulting role for internal customers. Anything else is just noise and static.

The best HR departments get this and focus their efforts on providing phenomenal customer service. If you’re in HR, how good is HR’s customer service at your organization? Do employees and managers feel fully supported by you? Do they feel like you are policy enforcers or do they feel that you help them understand all the pros and cons of the available choices and make the best decisions possible? Are you continually asking how each program and policy will impact the end users? Are you constantly seeking ways to improve your customers’ experience and make things simple, quick, and reasonably pleasant? Do your employees and managers enjoy contacting HR? Is every person on your HR team pleasant, knowledgeable, and solutions focused? Imagine your company was shopping for the best HR service on the planet – would they choose you?

There’s a very simple test to determine whether you provide phenomenal support or not: on the whole, do your employees and managers contact you BEFORE THE FACT to explore options, solutions, legal ramifications, and get your perspective on the situation OR are you forced to contact them AFTER EVERYTHING HAS MELTED DOWN?

At its best, HR helps companies attract, find, hire, develop, and retain great performers. It helps people make better decisions, be better leaders, and excel daily, regardless of the department they’re in. The finance department is better when the HR department is better. The sales department is better when the HR department is better. The product development department… you get the idea. Every department can exist with counterproductive HR, but they become better when HR becomes better.

So… are the individuals and the organization better off because of the HR service you provide? It’s a simple yes or no question.