Tag Archives: HR Heroes

#FF @CarolynMWalsh – Outstanding HR Leader in Transition

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Hello friends. Hope this Friday is being good to you. I’ve wanted to share this special #Follow Friday edition for a few weeks now and have finally gotten around to it.

I always love highlighting fellow Human Resource professionals whether they are TrenchHR folk, Consultants, or in transition and looking for that next opportunity to share their fabulous skills and knowledge. Today is no exception with one of favorites who not only lives 20 minutes from me, has a fabulous pedigree (I mean that with all due respect) but is also a friend.

Who is this famous person? I’m glad you asked.

Carolyn not only is a vital member of our local HR Roundtable but has become a part of our Discovering Social team helping Job Seekers in their job search strategy. She brings so many things to the table that make for such a complement to our team.

She tells us in her own words that she’s a strategic, versatile Human Resources Professional who has taken the road less traveled to HR and has acquired early management trainee rotations and management experience in Accounting and Operations.

She has a background in organization effectiveness and responsibilities for HR strategy, performance management, employee relations, compensation and benefits, recruiting and training. She has key insight into  integrating talent management processes to move business strategy forward, and on a tactical level consulting with leaders to bring those processes to life on a daily basis. She makes it happen, ya’ll.

When she steps away from the HR highway, you’ll find her conducting one on one coaching sessions at a local career center, consulting with nonprofits, or delivering job search training for Illinois Worknet clients.

Carolyn was also a key volunteer for Illinois SHRM this last year in that she helped me create the first ever mobile conference app, sharing countless hours of her time assisting me with not only the app, but anything else I needed her to do. She is always willing to help when asked. I appreciate that about her and she always does what she says she will do. Very thorough.

Her Specialties include:

HR Strategy & Planning, Talent Management, Organization Effectiveness, Change Management, Project Management, Employee Relations, Performance Management

Check out her certifications (I bow down)

Certified in MBTI, DISC, Strong, Firo-B and Rowe Career Assement Inventories; Course work toward Six Sigma Greenbelt and CCP

I don’t even know what some of those mean and yet I’m totally impressed :)

The bottom line

So here’s the thing. Carolyn is not only in transition at the present, but is expanding her brand on social media and YOU need to connect with her. Not only cause she’s one.smart.cookie. and a great person, but to see how you can help her with a possible career fit within your network for her next career move. I know you can do it – you are all so well connected and always willing to help a brother (sister) out.

So connect with her HERE > @CarolynMWalsh (the Twitters), LinkedIn.

Let’s give her a warm, online welcome. Shall we?

Photo Credit: BusinessBraggerBlog

Defining your purpose; Personally, Professionally and Managerially

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Today’s guest post comes from another online connection, Travis Sinquefield, HR Manager and Consultant for H&S Companies, P.C. and writes over at DevelopingOrganizations. Check it out, I think you’ll like it!

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about personal development. I am the kind of person who is always thinking about where I am currently and where I want to be, at least on a professional level. I have not given much thought of where I want and should be on a personal level, however.

This past weekend I read “How Will You Measure Your Life?” by Clayton Christensen. If you are not familiar with him, he is a management professional at the Harvard Business School and the preeminent scholar on innovation. I was drawn to this book, not just because I am a fan of Clay, but also because of the difficult he was going through when we decide to write this book, which includes battling cancer and then having a stroke. As you can imagine, this was quite a time of introspection for him.

In the book, he references many different management theories and how they can be applied to your personal life. At the end of the book, he gives out a three step process for helping to determine your purpose in life:

  1. Determine the “likeness” in which you would like to be – i.e. decide what kind of person you want to be and what you stand for, both personally and professionally
  2. Commit yourself to doing everything possible to make your ideal likeness become a reality
  3. Develop a metric to measure your progress and success

While this seems like a pretty simple process, in reality in can take many years to fully realize the process and apply it to your life. For Clay, it took over 15 years. For myself personally, I hope it won’t take that long because these are questions I have been considering, albeit in different forms, over the years.

As an HR Manager, I have been tasked by the leaders in my organization to work with each employee on a development plan. This spring, during our annual reviews (we do in May after tax season, due to the nature of our work), I sat down with each manager and also each employee and we came up with a couple development goals for each person. Most of these were more general in nature and not quantitative at all, such as getting a particular certification or working towards becoming a tax expert in a particular area.

Clay has me thinking how I work his thoughts and ideas into the development process. I discussed with each employee on where they would like their career to go, but I never really discussed with them their purpose in life and the type of life they want to lead on both a professional and personal level. I am hoping for many of them that their purpose is to be an accountant (or otherwise we might have to have some other discussions), but I really think it is important for every individual to take the time to reflect on what their purpose in life is and how they will measure their life.

Maybe I am a bit out of the ordinary, but I believe organizations should take an active role in both the personal and professional development of their employees. After all, they will probably spend more time with us at work than with their families. In addition, as CPA’s, they are the face of our firm to the public and represent not only themselves but also the company. I would think we would want our employees to represent us well.

As a leader within your organization, have you taken the time to help individuals develop on a personal and professional level? Have you asked them what their purpose is in life, and the standards by which they are going to measure themselves?

Just as important, have you asked yourself the same questions? I know I have. I just have to remember that asking the questions is the easy part – it’s finding the answers that are difficult.

Photo Credit: helpyourself2life

About the Author:

When he isn’t trying to become a blues legend in the confines of his basement and chasing around 2 little kids at home, Travis is an HR Manager and Consultant at H&S Companies, P.C., an accounting and business consulting firm in Grand Rapids, MI. After wandering through a career in financial services, he completed an MBA in Human Resource Management from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and made the switch to working in the trenches of human resources. He is also fascinated with the field of organizational behavior, particularly on the topics of competence, motivation, and leadership. He can be found on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

#Follow Friday – Video with Joan Ginsberg

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About Joan:

One of the most unique backgrounds  . . . in the HR sector  - That statement was made by Bill Boorman, a recruiter from London, England.

Armed with her Bachelor’s (with honor) degree in Criminal Justice from Michigan State University,  she began her professional life as a uniformed police officer in suburban Detroit.  Police officers necessarily acquire a lot of skills: negotiation, attention to details, multi-tasking, setting priorities, and complex problem solving.

Deciding that she could put those skills to better use, Joan left police work to attend law school (Detroit College of Law), and says she and law school were made for each other; she went on to graduate first in her class.

She learned that the practice of law wasn’t made for her, and she quickly abandoned legal practice to become a law professor.  Specializing in commercial law (the buying and selling of goods in the marketplace), she made academics her professional home for several years.

When my teaching contract expired, I jumped at an opportunity to become a manager at the meat processing facilityco-owned by her husband.  There was no human resources function at all when she started, so she decided to create one.  She learned and studied, ultimately becoming a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR).  With HR, she felt as though she had truly found her calling.

Watch the video above and find out what new endeavors Joan is diving into these days.

Connect with her here:

Twitter, Facebook, Blog, LinkedIn, Google+ 

#Follow Friday; Buzz Rooney – making some serious buzz

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Happy Friday Folks. Today I awoke to about a foot of snow outside. Couldn’t begin to tell you how happy that makes me.

Today’s featured guest and #FF is my good pal “Buzz Rooney.” Some of you may have already connected with Buzz and if not, what are you waiting for?

Her Background

10+ years HR Generalist Experience
Employee Relations
Training & Development
Compensation & Benefits
Leadership
Planning, Goal Setting & Alignment
Change Management & Process Improvement
Talent Recruitment & Management
Compliance (Federal, State & Local)
Excellent Social Media Knowledge

Her Blog

Buzz has an amazing way of using story-telling mixed with a-lot-of-smarts and humor over at “TheBuzzonHR” and is simply a weblog of her thoughts, experiences and wisdom on human resources, management and leadership. I am always learning from her.

Now understand she has created this online persona  ”Buzz Rooney” and along with working a day job, meandering throughout social spaces, she is now providing consulting services and includes resume writing, basic management coaching, organizational process improvement and compliance assistance.

Her Passions

Buzz has a passion to help others, whether it’s online (retweeting, sharing great content, allowing guest posts) or IRL with her employees. It all comes through to those that read her blogs and articles or chat with her on the phone or are connected with her in some fashion. Oh, and from what I hear, she has a few young-ans, and I’m sure she’s passionate about them :)

And like me, she loves The Food Network and to me, that’s reason right there to connect! So do it, already.

Where to Find Her

TheBuzzOnHR, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+. Here she is appearing on DriveThroughHR #DTHR. Tuesday nights you can find her in front of the TV watching “Chopped” and sometimes talking about it online.

7 reasons why I wanna be Laurie Ruettimann

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Okay, I haven’t actually met Laurie but have connected with her on a few social venues, read her blogs, sat in on her webinars, and seen a few videos. No, I’m not stalking her – I just like her style.

Here are a few reasons I wanna be Laurie Ruettimann:

  1. She’s adorable, right? – Who doesn’t wanna look like that?
  2. She’s edgy – She’s always saying what we wish we could say OUT LOUD
  3. She funny and makes us laugh – but proves her point
  4. She’s articulate and sassy
  5. She has a writing style that’s “all her own”
  6. She often drops the “F-BOMB” and gets away with it
  7. She’s smart, classy and sophisticated (or that’s what I perceive)

Ever since I started writing my blogs and getting my work out there I have said to myself, “I wish I could be like them” or “I wish I could write like that.” I wish I could drop the famous F-Bomb and make it come across as genuine. Always comparing myself to someone else and thinking “I wish I could be like her.” The great thing about Laurie (or so I hear from others that have met her in person) is that she is exactly in person as she is online – genuine! That’s the point!

In reality, we all are different in our own way. We all have different experiences, different perspectives, writing styles and really just need to be ourselves. For my industry and my personality doing these things that make others who they are would only be setting myself up as a copy-cat and being very disingenuous (a hypocrite) because that’s not who I am.

When it’s all said and done it’s about being authentic!

I respect all you folks out there who take the time to write a blog (especially on a DAILY basis) because I know personally the labor of love involved, the hours invested, the opportunity to share your thoughts and opinions in such a beautiful manner.

Communication is a skill that is honed and I know that in time I too, shall “Inherit the earth” as Laurie has done :)

UPDATE: I have since met Laurie in person and she is more awesome than I had imagined. She’s a smooth alligator. (Or was that suppose to be operator?)

NOTE:

For those of you who just fell off the turnip truck and don’t know who Laurie is you can find her here:

http://laurieruettimann.com/