Author Archives: Ben

Wasting time at work (but not how you think!)

wasting time at workWasting time at work is an act as old as work itself. Today I’m going to talk about something different from the common procrastination behaviors we immediately think about (the Water Cooler Chatter, the Champion Web Surfer, etc.). Today we’ll talk about washing the car.

One of the fun things about where I work is that they have their own little unique vocabulary. One of them I’ve learned recently is “washing the car.”

I had one of those ugly, “please don’t make me get around to doing this today” tasks to complete. While I was procrastinating, I was getting a lot of the little things completed that have been have been sitting on the back burner for a while.

I sat down to talk with my manager for a few minutes, and she asked about the status of the project I was procrastinating. I grinned, and she smiled knowingly and asked if I was “washing the car.” At my puzzled look, she explained that the phrase means that you’re doing something that looks good on the surface but really doesn’t help in the long run.

The moral of the story

It’s important to remember as managers and leaders that just because someone is staying busy, they aren’t necessarily getting the right things done. It’s up to us to point them in the right direction, keep tabs on progress, and course correct if necessary.

Next time someone is working hard but not focusing on the priorities, ask them if they’re “washing the car.” It could be a great teachable moment and from that moment on, you’ll have an easy way to communicate that feedback without having to have one of those difficult, confrontational conversations.

Do you have any special lingo at work that you use? I’d love to hear an example!

I’m moving to MailChimp!

mailchimpNew email service

Since the inception of the blog, I have used Feedburner to handle email and RSS subscriptions. While they do an okay job of it, I’m not quite satisfied with their delivery via email. Plus if I have a really neat idea or something that I’d like to send to subscribers only (as a side benefit of subscribing), then Feedburner does not allow me to do that.

So I’m switching to the monkey.

MailChimp offers me the ability to do those one-off emails to subscribers, plus their delivery is much more secure. It’s going to be a great experience. Why am I telling you? Well, if you want to subscribe, just put your info into the box below or click here if you don’t see a box below. Just an FYI, if you are subscribed via email currently, then I will port over your email and save you the trouble of resubscribing. There might be a post or two where you get double delivery while the services overlap, but I will fix that by week’s end.

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If you subscribe via RSS, that service will not change. But you might miss out on some of those bonuses that are subscriber-only in the future. :-)

SHRM Connect-SHRM’s Social Networking Tool

Recently I had the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. to work with the Society for Human Resources Management and a great team of individual contributors on SHRM’s social media tool, SHRM Connect. While some of us have criticized SHRM for moving slowly at times, it looks like they are making great strides on this project.

Check out the video below for more information.

The Need for Workplace Conflict Resolution

handling conflict at workToday we have a guest post from Claudia Vandermilt on conflict resolution in the workplace. By the way, if you’re local to the Huntsville area, make sure you check out our April lunch meeting on the very same topic. You can find more information on the NASHRM homepage.

In a perfect workplace, everyone would work together in peace and harmony – there would be no politics, disagreements or differing opinions. However, no such workplace exists; conflict is a normal part of daily life and doing business, as each employee has a different view on the world (which is also what makes a business successful). It\’s also a typical challenge for HR.

HR professionals, like yourself, must work hard to create a work environment that allows employees to grow and thrive, and to work together without tension. It\’s your job to ensure that interoffice conflicts don\’t escalate into interpersonal conflicts, so intervention is necessary. Your HR knowledge, management and mediation skills play a critical role in getting employees back to being productive.

From your perspective, conflict within the workplace should actually be considered neutral territory. Your job is to take into consideration the individual, their concerns and the policies of your organization. While addressing conflict is often not an enjoyable part of being in an HR role, it is an aspect that cannot be ignored.

Conflict Resolution vs. Conflict Avoidance

Determining precisely when to intervene in an employee conflict is tricky, but leaving a conflict totally unresolved can greatly harm productivity and teamwork. Addressing conflict isn\’t easy, but giving employees the opportunity to be heard can have positive results for the staff and organization. In a supportive environment, employees experience higher morale and file fewer formal grievances, as they feel validated and appreciated.

Because most conflicts can be resolved quickly and fairly, it\’s best to address them early. Waiting too long or avoiding the conflict altogether only adds to the tension and could even escalate the grievance.  When faced with the challenge of conflict resolution, consider the pros and cons of intervention:

Pros

    Dealing with conflict resolution results in:

    • Stronger relationships
    • Builds teamwork
    • Diffuses anger
    • Encourages problem solving
    • Re-focuses employees toward results
    • Conveys a positive environment
    • Encourages open communication

      Cons

        Avoiding conflict results in:

        • Defensiveness
        • Discourages productivity and teamwork
        • Damages relationships
        • Creates hidden agendas
        • Drains energy and morale
        • Produces stress and animosity
        • Harbors workplace chaos and negativity

        In your role, you have the ability to create a positive, supportive work environment that opens communication and enables employees to achieve success. Swiftly dealing with workplace conflict creates a harmonious environment that motivates employees and encourages creativity, willingness and loyalty.

        Claudia Vandermilt works in conjunction with Villanova University and University Alliance to promote professional training materials. She\’s currently enrolled in Mastering Organizational Effectiveness through Villanova because there\’s little else more challenging than remaining organized.

        What do you want me to talk about?

        I’ve done my share of talking here, but I’m curious to know more about you and what you expect from the blog. What topics do you enjoy? What would it thrill you for me to cover?

        Subscribers may need to click through to see the video.

        Feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email to ben@upstarthr.com to talk privately. Also, if you are interested in me coming to speak to your group (or doing a webinar), reach out to me as well. I’m picking up more of these as time goes on and I really enjoy the opportunities. :-)

        Employee Retention eBook

        how to keep your best employeesEmployee retention. AKA “let’s keep our good people working for us.” As the economy turns around, up to 84% of employees across the US have said they are looking at the possibility of changing jobs.

        That’s a lot of people.

        We all know the numbers on employee turnover and the impact it has on the bottom line. So what’s our alternative? Retention. Keep the good people around (not by force, hopefully) and keep them on our team.

        Recently I reached out to a few people to see if they wanted to contribute to an eBook to help HR pros, managers, and business leaders learn more about retention. The response was a good one, and today I’m happy to share the free eBook with you. It’s titled “Where do you think you’re going? A guide to employee retention.”

        Special thanks to Shauna Moerke for helping me to promote the guide through the HR Carnival channel. I also want to thank the contributors for offering up some great, useful content: Tim Sackett, Heather Vogel, Benjamin McCall, Chris Ferdinandi, Paul Hebert, Laura Schroeder, Dave Ryan, Keith McIlvaine, Robin Schooling, and Stuart at 1.00 FTE. You can find links to each of these contributors’ websites within the guide.

        Click here to download Where do you think you’re going? A guide to employee retention

        25% of supervisors are younger than their staff

        how to handle a young managerFor most of us, it’s not reality, but having a young supervisor is obviously a phenomenon that is fairly widespread. At first glance, I’m thinking, “Yeah! Go for it young people!” And then I realized I could be one of those who has a younger manager one day; it made me stop and think. It would be a challenge, but it’s something we may all run into at some point in our careers.

        Here is the breakdown according to the SHRM website poll for the question What is your age in relation to your supervisor?:

        • I’m Older-26%
        • I’m Younger-56%
        • I’m About the Same-18%

        I think the toughest one on there has to be being older than your manager. But on the flip side, it has to be stressful for a manager to step into a role with subordinates that could be twice his/her age. I’m certainly not saying we shouldn’t have a wide range of managers, because great managing talent/ability is found in all sorts of individuals, no matter how many years are under their belt. Simply making the observation that this could be a friction point between a good manager and an otherwise good employee if age is lumped in.

        Interesting stuff! So, where do you fall on the list? Are you older than your supervisor, younger, or about the same?