Tag Archives: leadership

Really……..You Don’t Know How To Do That?

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Since I’m in the land of dial-up, and resting and re-cooping, I thought I would pull this great guest post from the archives. It comes from my friend Buzz Rooney, an expert pro of all things HR. I love her style. Take a look……

Image Credit: Masterfile.com

My boyfriend is a scuba diver. He seriously dives for lost treasure and wreckage and stuff like that. He swims like a fish –and has since he was seven years old.

I didn’t learn to swim until I was an adult. I grew up in the ‘hood;’ we played in sprinklers and hydrants. There weren’t many pools and most people didn’t know how to swim anyway. So the summer after I graduated from college, I took a class at the YMCA. I learned the basics but I still don’t know how to blow out my breath properly so I can swim laps.

So during one of our trips to the pool this summer, I asked him how. His response, “You don’t know how to do that?? That’s so easy! All you have to do is …” and he went on to describe and demonstrate the technique. Although I knew he was trying to help me, I stopped listening almost immediately so I didn’t learn a thing.

A few days later, I got a call from a manager who was having trouble running a report. I found myself repeating the words “You don’t know how to do that?? That’s so easy! All you have to do is …” And I cringed, knowing that manager was now feeling like I felt that day at the pool and probably tuned out from whatever instructions I’d given him.

Everyone isn’t good at everything. Everything doesn’t come easy for everyone. HR gets called on a lot to explain how and why things work to people who don’t know, both inside and outside our organizations. It’s important that we explain information in ways that do not make people tune out to our message. HR is everyone’s responsibility. The more accessible, practical and understandable we make the inner-workings of our function; the better it is for all involved!

So the next time you get that umpteenth call asking for guidance on an issue that you have explained at least a dozen times before: take a deep breath, resist the urge to criticize or mock, and give clear, concise and compliant directives like only HR can!

What’s All The Buzz?

Buzz Rooney is an HR professional with over 10 years experience in industrial and retail environments. Buzz has a degree in Communication Studies with focus on Organizational Communication and Leadership as well as a Master’s in HR Management. You can read more of Buzz’s writings at her blog, The Buzz on HR (www.thebuzzonhr.com ). You can follow her on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/thebuzzonhr), like her on FaceBook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Buzz-on-HR/121898154549257 ) , and join her network on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/buzz-rooney/31/b46/342 ).

Leaders and Mentors in Retail?

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Every Christmas when I’m wrapping gifts to put under the tree I can’t help but remember the first job I ever had.

I suppose because I was working for a couple of Japanese owners in their retail Asian Import store back in Alabama and I wrapped a lot of Christmas gifts. It never fails to take me back to that moment in time.

I was fifteen and I.knew.nothing.

I was scared to death to even walk up and greet the customers and I couldn’t wrap a package if my life depended on it. This particular job and my mentor owners would be something that would help me throughout my career and life, I just didn’t know it then.

I learned to interact and come out of my “somewhat introvert” shell. I learned to wrap gits like a super-sonic ninja and they were (and had to be) perfect before the customer left the store with their gift.

It was here where I first did any modeling. (I was a still model in the window wearing kimonos) and this would later be added to my resume for the modeling I did in my twenties.

I even had to have my appearance (clothes, hair and makeup) approved by the owner or she would send me straight into the bathroom for a redo. It was insane, or so I thought at the time.

I was this pissy kid who thought “how dare she try to tell me how to dress.” But I would give in and do it. And it paid off.

I had no idea that it was preparing me for so many things for the future. I worked there until I was 18 and moved away.

This training was crucial in preparing me for the real world of work and for the 10 years I spent traveling as a professional singer and musician.  This couple would periodically take all of the employees out to the local Japanese restaurant and were the ones who taught me how to eat with chop sticks – and that was way cool.

I always wanted to be able to tell my boss how grateful I was for taking me in and grooming me for life.

I had that wonderful opportunity a few years back at a local convention we both were participating in. She was so excited to see me, and to be able to tell me in her own words how proud she was of me for doing so well in my life and career. In fact, she quoted every newspaper article that had talked of me and my success with my music and with my sales career. She acted as if I was some sort of celebrity.

It made my day. I finally had the chance to thank her and that meant the world to me.

Sometimes when we are experiencing difficulty we can’t see past it and instead think we’ve just been given a raw deal.  Often we cut and run instead of sticking with it. I know I’ve done my share of that. Perhaps if we would buckle down, persevere, and determine to get past it we would come through it all having matured.

We never know what life may be trying to teach us.

Photo Credit: WanShop

PSU, Generations and Culture

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Today’s guest post is from one of my online friends in the HR Vendor world, Chris Capozzi. Chris and I have been connected online for awhile now, engaging and so forth, and had the chance to meet IRL at this year’s Illiniois SHRM State Conference. Take it away….

Are there lessons we can learn from Penn State?

Is there a generational consideration that should be given to Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky and others involved in the allegedly horrific crime committed on the campus of Penn State University?  Did the perspective on life that is shown from their generation lead to the actions of the alleged cover up in this case?  Could we learn more on what this teaches us about similar situations?

The answer is yes.  The generational perspective in this case comes from a generation known as the tradionalist group.  This group is from the WWII era and Coach Paterno, born in 1926 falls right in the middle of this group while Coach Sandusky born in 1944 is on the edge of the baby boomers. Let’s examine the key characteristics of this generation and see if this sheds some light on the relationship between these two individuals.

The tradionalist generation are loyal to the employer and expect loyalty in return; possess strong interpersonal skills, enjoy flextime so they can work their own schedule; believe promotion, recognition and raises should come from job tenure. They build a legacy – expect a lifetime career with one employer or at least in one field and have a sense of personal responsibility to work.

Coach Paterno was the leader of this program for over forty years and developed a culture of loyalty from those involved. The corporate culture within the system was solely directed by his life experience.  He has built a legacy but regardless of all the good will that he has built over the years his moral judgment will be forever in question.  While we may never know the truth and circumstances in this tragedy, what we do know is if the culture were different within this team all of the cases that occurred after 2002 could have been prevented.

What would this legacy look like in the corporate world?

The leader that has been in place for decades setting a culture of “this is the way we have always done it” and expects everyone to fall in line with the culture the leader has built as his legacy.  In this company if a scandal was brewing we would see the leader take care of it and expect that he can handle the situation in the way he knows best.  The leader would know that if such a scandal was public his reputation and legacy would be destroyed.

Can we learn from this?  Sure we can. Has this happened before in the corporate world and a different direction taken?  Yes it has.  Think back to 1982, potassium cyanide was placed in Extra-Strength Tylenol throughout Chicago. Seven individuals died from this form of terrorism. Johnson & Johnson (the makers of the pain reliever) could have simply taken Tylenol off the counters in the Chicago area. Instead, the company immediately recalled Tylenol from the stores nationwide. Consumers, advertisers and other businesses praised J&J for its swift actions. Today the company is one of the most well-liked companies by consumers (Bickel, 2011).

Will Penn State University be able to recover from this scandal?  Yes, if they put safe guards in place to ensure this can never happen again.  The school must work to create a safe environment for all staff, students, and visitors. PSU will need to carefully create a standard of operation procedure in reporting and handling such situations in the future.

Future leaders of the institution will need to have a greater understanding on the impact that child safety and the handling of this situation will have on the future enrollment of students and families supporting youth camps on campus.  A policy is not enough.  A culture change is needed and respect for people should be at the foundation if they indeed want to return happy to the valley.

About the Author:

Chris Capozzi is the Director of Business Development for Legacy Business Cultures whose workshops, train-the-trainer programs, and employee climate surveys have touched thousands of organizations, millions of employees, managers and leaders across the globe. Legacy Business Cultures and its partners have been the experts in helping shape organization culture Worldwide for over 14 years. Connect with Chris on twitter @chriscapozzi.

Halloween office parties gone bad

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Some few years back, when working in the third level of hell, my boss and HR / Office manager thought it would be a great idea if several of us from the office got together and celebrated Halloween. She set the time and place for us to meet and told us we all had to dress in costume and head to one of the local bars in town.

We all thought that rallying the troupes and trying to create some kind of camaraderie in and out of the workplace would be a great idea, at the time.

So there was a buzz of excitement for the next few weeks throughout the office talking about our costumes and how much fun we were going to have at the party. We talked of what we would sing at karaoke, who we were bringing to accompany us, it was going to be “the shiznik.” We also discussed how we were not going to drink that much because we all knew that was never a good idea, and to act civilized which we all agreed was crucial being out with our supervisors and coworkers – God only knows what would happen if we didn’t. We laughed at that thought, and all agreed.

Time came and we all met up in our lovely costumes as we congregated outside the local pub awaiting our perfectly planned evening.

And then things changed………….

Once we walked through the doors, somehow that plan we had conjured up of not drinking too much and maintaining some sort of self-control went to #$%@. People were drinking more than their body weight, dirty dancing on the floor with their boss, and some things I saw reminded me of  an episode of “Girls Gone Wild.”

What happened to the plan? We seemed to have good intentions to begin with but with all the Halloween hooplah, something happened.

Guess what happened on Monday morning? People were walking in the doors with their eyes towards the floor in embarrassment. They had behaved so badly that they couldn’t look any of their co-workers in the eye. They had lost the respect of those around them, and might I add – we all lost respect for our HR manager.

How does one recover from these kinds of things? You don’t.

Since then, when someone mentions going out and drinking or Halloween office parties – I run. Yes, in the opposite direction.

You can plan all you want until your heart’s content to behave, not overdo it on your alcohol consumption or whatever but unless you stand by that, you’re just asking for trouble at Halloween parties or any other kind of office party involving alcohol and crazy co-workers.

Lessons of strategic planning from a Chicago cabbie

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While leaving the SHRM Strategy Conference last week, Charlie Judy and I decided to share a cab back to our train stations to depart for the suburbs. May I stop to just say that taking a cab in Chicago is like taking your life into your own hands – read more about that here.

Upon entering the cab – we noticed the Cabbie was already in a tizzy and seemed very perturbed and agitated. We told him that Charlie needed to be dropped at Union Station and then he needed to continue taking me to Olgilvee. He mumbled something in response that we tried to interpret as “No, I can’t go that way it’s Oktoberfest.” Or maybe that’s what we understood to be what he said. Then he quickly swerved into another lane to pass another cabbie and get in front of him. I can’t remember what Charlie said to the guy but I think it was something like “Man – take it easy we have plenty of time.” I could be wrong – my stomach was already in my throat and I was about to throw up.

As the guy tried to figure what route he would take to Union Station – Charlie looked at me and said “Why is this guy going this way if he knows there’s traffic?” I shrugged my shoulders thinking after all – it is Oktoberfest – he had already pointed this out to us. I had no idea because I don’t know my way around the city that well.

Needless to say we were stuck, going at a snail’s pace in bumper to bumper traffic, and what usually is a 10 minute drive took about 45 minutes total.

I laughed when Charlie decided it would be easier for him to just get out and walk the rest of the way – so he wouldn’t miss his train.

So with a few more yells from the Cabbie to other Cabbies and pedestrians he continued on -swerving in front of other cars and people on route. I finally made it to my station and paid the guy and said, “Dude, you should totally chill out and relax – next time make a better plan – or quit your job and do something else.” I was hoping he wouldn’t shoot me while walking walked away.

It left me thinking, if this guy knew that Oktoberfest was going on – shouldn’t he have planned an alternative route and could have avoided the congestion, the agitation and stress associated with it all? This would have then created an all-around good experience in getting us from point A to point B. Instead, he chose not to, to go with the rest of the crowd which created chaos and affected all involved.

Come to think of it this is what we do in life, business and the world of work. It truly affects those around us and causes us to stress out majorly. We continue doing the same things because they’re familiar or comfortable – to go in the direction of the crowd and most of the time it is totally ineffective. It makes us difficult to be around and creates chaos in our life and work.

Maybe it’s time to do something different. To take a different approach. To take a different route. Or quit – and go do something else. Just a thought.

Strategic Planning – It’s all about influence

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Day three of the SHRM Strategy conference I sat in on Jason Lauritsen‘s “Strategic Planning – The Power of a Plan” session and here are some highlights.

First of all – you gotta love Jason and his style. He has a real way of engaging with his audience, and for a speaker – that’s huge! After all, who wants to sit there and be talked “to?”

Steering the Ship

His opening line was  ”The only way to steer the direction of the ship is to convince others that you’re going in the right direction -that’s influence.” Not only having a plan, but being able to relay the plan or direction to others within the team is crucial. It’s about getting others on board with the plan, helping them to get a hold of the vision and seeing their part in it – while keeping them engaged throughout the process.

Influence before Implementation 

Sometimes we get blindsided by all the other stuff going on while we’re trying to implement a plan – I’ll call them distractions.  Maybe it’s dealing with the “everyday stuff of HR” and we say, “Screw the plan – trying to get these folks together is like herding cats.”

The definition of influence is - the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others. Now let me ask you – is this you?

We can talk about our plan and strategy of “where we are going next” but the buy-in is a whole other ballgame. This is what separates the #winners from the #losers – especially in “game strategy” is not just lip service (as one of my high school teachers use to say) but being able to actually sell it to not only the C-Suite, but to the company as a whole and then implementing the plan – and seeing it through to completion without being side-swiped or quitting.

And by the way, if no one trusts you and most people hate you – you’ll have a harder time influencing them to catch your vision.

What’s missing?

Strategic planning is all in the approach and being influential in stating the benefits and side benefits in a compelling way– to really moving your organization forward. It’s got to be more than “you’re such a great guy – we love playing follow the leader” and instead about “you have really great ideas, we trust you, we’ve seen your track record – and we’re on board.” After all – you are captain of this ship!

Results of Strategic Planning and the Power of a Plan:

  1. Helps you with key relationship building
  2. Perception management
  3. Performance linkage to the business and how we support them
  4. Builds confidence within the team
  5. You’re building a community of trust and loyalty
In the end – there is no right way – figure out what works for you and your organization (for the right reasons and the right way AND for your company culture). Here’s a recap:
  1. Discovering what needs to take place– learning, curiosity, figuring out the game (what to do about it – research is key)
  2. Asking questions with a curious mind with a lack of defense
  3. Gathering info  and discovering your path (even from your employees)
  4. Putting a Plan in Place
  5. Communicating clearly – your plan
  6. Influencing others and helping them see their part in the plan
  7. Seeing it through to completion

Characteristics of Great Leaders

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Today started off with a bang at the SHRM Strategy Conference in Chicago with several great break-out sessions in which I’ll be writing about later one. I wanted to start off with the keynote of Bill Conaty, former VP of HR for GE.

This session was packed full of information and I won’t try to make you swallow all of it but I do want to give you a few take-aways.

In his “Lessons of Leadership” keynote, Mr. Conaty caused all of us to really see that smart leaders put people before numbers. That of course, is a line from his book “The Talent Masters.” I can’t wait to get that and start reading and I encourage you to go out and get a copy and if you can’t find the extra change to do so, at least go to your library and see if you can check it out.

Here are a few quotes from the maestro that I jotted down and thought I might share.

1. Great leaders balance passionate leadership with compassionate leadership and it takes both to be successful.

2. Great leaders develop and assess talent once they attract them which is how you are going to keep them.

3. Great leaders become problem solvers vs. problem identifiers.

4. Great leaders know that their company and personal values must be compatible.

5. Lighten up. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Go ahead, laugh a little. Even if you must laugh at yourself (okay, I added that last part)

I had the chance to interview a few of my friends IRL after the session and here’s what they had to say.

Top 10: Cheat Sheet for the C-Suite

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Over the last 20 years, I’ve worked with managers and leaders who all had their own unique style.  If the job of being a leader was easy there wouldn’t be 67,269 books written on the topic.  Leader or company perfection is non-existent.  There is no Nirvana in Corporate America — that’s why it’s called work!  Simply put, leaders have to know their business and know people.

The below points are based on personal observations and unsolicited feedback from colleagues throughout my career.  My goal was to take a realistic and common sense approach without exaggerated jargon.  Translation:  Almostanyone can condition themselves to be an efficient leader.

1. Don’t do surveys to measure employee engagement.  Employees won’t believe that they’re confidential (even if they are) nor will they give you honest feedback.

2. Don’t create new policies just because of one negative employee experience.  Deal with the (negative) employee individually but creating policies based on “what if” scenarios quickly contributes toward a discontented workforce.

3. Real employee engagement requires action from you, all managers and HR.  Engagement is not a project that you work on and then put to bed.  Engagement should be treated as a verb — a conditioned action that is continual and ongoing throughout the entire organization.

4. When you hire talented people, trust and empower them to do their jobs.  You don’t have to be involved in every project nor do you need periodic updates, unless they need your support.  This type of micro managing sends a message that you don’t trust your employees’ abilities.

5.  Encourage new ideas from the entire company — even if the ideas never come to fruition.  Employees who know their opinion is valued will be engaged.  You want employees to challenge themselves, think and take risks.  If an idea doesn’t work, explain why.  By ignoring people and discounting ideas without an explanation, you will single-handedly lock them in a silo of fear.  They’ll never speak up again for fear of being shot down and being looked upon negatively.  Trust me.

6.  Follow up skills.  They’re easy — learn them.  Don’t ignore the human beings who we call employees.

7.  Communicate — with everyone!  Employees want to be informed on company news and happenings.  Whether it’s an intranet bulletin, e-mail, newsletter, company meeting — just do it.  It’s painless and an informed employee is a positive step toward a happy employee.

8. Don’t be stingy with the “atta boys/girls” when warranted.  Salary increases and bonuses are great, but it takes 2 minutes to tell someone they’ve done a great job and costs you nothing.

9. Don’t crush someone if they make a mistake by “blacklisting” them.  Talk to them and coach them.  They’re not going to destroy the business and they’ll gain priceless experience from a productive discussion.

This last one is the most important and will rarely, if ever, be confronted in the workplace.  I’m beginning to believe that this little point is impossible to achieve simply due to human nature.

10. Leave your ego at the door. Do what’s best for the organization instead of your reputation or paycheck. When someone resigns from the company, don’t take it personally or hold a grudge. Get over yourself because no matter how good you think you are, there is always someone better.

About the Author:

Kimberly Roden is a Human Resources professional with over two decades of progressive experience with concentrations in leadership coaching, performance management and employee engagement. She believes in treating employees like adults and using creative solutions and ideas in the workplace instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach. Kimberly’s greatest accomplishment (and challenge!) in life is being a single mother to twins who are now in college. You can visit her blog, UnconventionalHR (www.unconventionalhr.com) and connect with her on Twitter as @kimberly_roden.

“Hey Dude, Inspire Greatness!”

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I love being around folks that love what they do. That’s one of the reasons I love my HR Twitter network. Passionate visionaries give me a charge. I want to know their story. I want to know the highs and lows, especially the lows because that’s where you find growth. When things are easy and going well, anyone can be a leader. However great leaders find a way to succeed when their backs against the wall and it’s do or die. The journey comes down to passion, love, vision and commitment.

Here are two of my favorite inspirations out there. The first comes from a book by Jim Collins “Good to Great”. I know what you’re thinking, not the “get on the bus”, “seat at the table” spill. No! I’m not going there.  The book illustrates how certain businesses outperformed and outgrew others in the same market. It boils down to leadership and strategy. But here’s what resonates within me; Collins says, the thing that keeps most companies from being great, is being good. Good is the enemy of great.

My next inspiration is Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford Motor Company. First, Ford didn’t take bailout money. Mulally felt strongly that Ford could be profitable again without any handouts, and was right. As a kid he loved the Mustang, so when he took over as CEO he brought back the muscle to the Mustang, and then the flagship Taurus and finally new exciting models like the Fusion, Focus and Edge. He made them more fuel efficient. He also made them more modern with Sync technology. Recently, they announced they would no longer put CD players in their cars (remember the cassette tape). What he has done is fascinating.

Each person defines their own success in life. There was a time when I wanted to be a millionaire and have all these things that money can buy, but now it’s more important to be helpful and productive. I have goals and they’re pretty ambitious. I am very knowledge and capable. I surround myself and learn from passionate individuals, in and out of the HR field. I want to reach as many folks as I can with my HR voice. I want to continue to do what I can to help any organization or individual attain their goals. Right now I’m doing okay but that’s not good enough.

Today’s guest post is from Chris Fields, creator of costofwork.com, he has a Masters in HR &Labor Relations from Ohio State University.He’s done some consulting and training and development. He’s on Twitter @new_resource also on LinkedIn.

Photo Credit: Kurtis Bechard an incredible 20 year old graphics design student.

Which way did he go George?

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I’m stoked and ready to head to Vegas for SHRM11 next week. I’m also excited to be going as part of the press/blogging team and for the awesome invite to participate. (I know, a total dork – check it out: Me in my SHRM11 shirt)

I have printed out all my emails, travel docs, programs and I’m spending time reviewing what sessions I want to attend, what after hours events to go to, and a list of my online industry celebrities that I want to meet in person (no, not stalk). The next thing to do is figure out what I want to take to wear. I’ve been instructed to dress for warm weather outside and freezing cold weather inside which makes it difficult to pack since I refuse to pay for my bags when flying. I will somehow cram it all in one suitcase and hope for the best.

While I’m not as anal as some when it comes to lists and in my organizational skills, I do not like to be unprepared. Especially, for something like this. I don’t want to be wandering the halls, running here and there trying to do everything but I want to have a strategy in place; a plan of action ahead of time. I don’t want to be one of those people that was referred to on True Faith HR.

Have you ever gone to the grocery store without a list? I know for me, I wander around in circles like I’ve never been to a grocery store before. I go up and down the isles thinking, “what did I come here for and where is everything?” I then get home and have a crap load of cookies, chips, and junk food and nothing to prepare a meal. The best thing I could do before I leave for the store is to create a menu for the week and then make my grocery store list from that. That always works best for me.

Having a plan of action ahead of time helps us in so many areas of our lives. I’m not saying that we can never be spontaneous, but for the most part – being prepared is key. It is crucial for time-management, productivity and in leading others. How can we expect to lead others when we are wandering around in circles just “happy to be there?”