Category Archives: General

4 reasons you don’t need a social media policy

social media policyEvery once in a while I hear someone talking about needing a “social media policy” at work. Ugh. If you know me at all you’ll instantly guess that I’m against such things. I would rather offer training instead of more regulation. Here are four reasons you probably don’t need a social media policy at all:

  • Conversations can happen anywhere. You don’t have a “parking lot conversations” policy, so why create a separate, special policy just for social media? People can do as much damage talking about your company in a crowded restaurant as they can with a Facebook post, but you don’t see anyone creating policies on that.
  • Is it worth your time? Is your core business function monitoring social media or creating/delivering a product or service? You can stand over peoples’ shoulders as long as you want but it’s not going to add value to be business.
  • We’re listening to the lawyers on this? When has a lawyer ever said, “You know what? You really don’t need a policy for that specific situation” with regard to the employer/employee relationship? I’m guessing never. If we listened to the lawyers and their scare tactics we’d have a handbook that rivals the size of the Alabama state constitution.
  • Are they adults or not? If not, then you’re breaking a few child labor laws. If so, then we need to treat them like it. If you act like they are childish and incapable of handling themselves, then they will be. If you treat them as respectable, functional adults, then they will be (for the most part). Don’t make policies for outliers. That guy who clips his toenails on his desk? Don’t make a toenail-clipping-at-your-desk policy. Pull him aside and tell him it’s inappropriate. I’ll say it again: don’t make policies for outliers.

I’m sure there are more! What are your reasons for companies to forego a social media policy?

How to Kill the Status Quo

Dale Dauten innovator labThis session at ALSHRM was amazing. It was unlike the rest of the day. No slides, just a conversation among the attendees and speaker, Dale Dauten. Below you’ll find a kind of stream-of-consciousness post full of great quotes and thought-provoking ideas. Enjoy!

Dale did a little prep work before the session by polling the attendees. That opened up some great discussions during his time with us, such as the poll question “What do you like least about your work/job?”

  • Too much work
  • Getting stuck as “the compliance person”
  • Left out of the loop on big decisions

That led to a chilling (and probably true) comment: What do executives say about HR when they are not in the room?

Nothing.

That’s because we are perceived as an overhead cost and “in the way” of real work.

Dale used the term “gradual day” to describe one we all face on a weekly basis. These are the days that wear and weaken our spirits due to steadily increasing problems and issues. These should not be the norm.

Next time you are buried under a mound of work with no end in sight and a manager walks into your office asking you to talk with one of his/her employees, refuse/redirect them. Don’t keep taking on work that is their job, because it will burn you out and you never get out of the same old rut you’re stuck in with too much work and too little time. If it’s remotely possible, refuse the problem. Yes, it’s crazy,  but it is necessary!

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Taking the time to critique someone and offer feedback shows that you care enough to invest time in them. Managers should remember this every single day. It might be a burden on you to take time to provide feedback to every one of your people, but it is what you get paid for. Want your people to feel appreciated? Pay attention to them in the form of positive critical feedback.

Help your managers get the most out of people. You don’t have to know how to do the employees’ jobs, you just need to know what to measure against. Find a credible standard for greatness and hold people to it.

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Quote of the day: HR gets two options when it comes to bad policies. Enforce it and be a jerk or ignore it and be a hypocrite. (Although I think there’s a third option, which is getting rid of bad policies altogether. But that’s a post for another day.)

My favorite part

If you know me at all, you know I’m a big fan of HR as the keeper of the culture at work. We nurture it, communicate it, and share it often (especially with new employees). One of Dale’s recommendations was to develop a list of touchstones (short sayings full of wisdom). HR should become the keeper of the touchstones in the organization. It lets you share wisdom across the board and make a lasting impact.

The concept is interesting, because I’ve been doing something similar already at work. We have little sayings in our vocabulary that I have started incorporating into the new hire orientations and onboarding process to help new employees learn more about what we value. I love HR as the keeper of the culture/touchstones, and I’m looking forward to writing more on it in the future.

All in all, it was an amazing session and I’m thrilled Dale came to speak with us!

Uncovering manager development opportunities

manager trainingManagers need development like any other employee, but sometimes it is difficult to find out just what they want or need to learn. Click the link for part two in the series on how to develop managers.

Recently I've realized that one of the biggest needs we have as an organization is manager training. We have supervisors who have forgotten what it's like to be human, new managers with little or no experience in the role, and ones who keep screwing up even the most basic of leadership tenets.

In other words, we need it bad.

But when I brought up the idea of offering a survey to the managers to help figure out the development holes that need to be filled, I quickly realized the fallacy of that wide open approach.

  • Some managers would say they didn't need any training
  • Some managers would say they needed training in irrelevant/impractical areas
  • Some managers would immediately become defensive

So just saying “What do you want to do better?” isn't an option. But there's a better way to do ask the question and still get a solid response.

The question I usually ask when I am looking for stealth development opportunities is this: “What is your biggest frustration as a manager?”

That opens the door to all kinds of answers, and I've never met a single manager who didn't have a heartfelt response (or a dozen!) to that question. Those answers will help guide the process from there. For instance:

  • My biggest frustration is dealing with apathetic employees. This opens the door to providing some training on leadership skills and ways to motivate and inspire their people.
  • My biggest frustration is hiring poor performers. This is an opportunity to work with them on interviewing techniques to select the best people.
  • My biggest frustration is [insert problem here].

You get the picture. Instead of having to start from scratch, let them tell you what they need in terms of development and training. Then give it to them.

How do you identify manager training needs? More importantly, how do the managers respond?

Influencing people at work

how to influence othersAKA: All Knowing but not All Powerful

There’s much to be said about influencing people at work. It’s part art, part science, and part random chance.

HR is like that. Our role is more subtle. We offer support to managers but never take over their roles (even if they ask you to). They are paid to manage people. Let them earn it. :-)

With great power comes great (responsibility) headaches

It can be frustrating to see the big picture and have no power to directly influence the outcome.

  • Bad employee? You can’t fire them yourself.
  • Poor manager? Good luck putting them on a corrective action plan.

But that doesn’t mean you are completely out of luck. A little influence can go a long way. And coupled with training, reinforcement, and good communication, you can overcome many of the problems that would otherwise be untouchable.

I talked with someone new to the profession recently and she was going through a tough time trying to define her role. She wanted to be in the thick of things, working closely with the managers she supported. While I understand and support the “in the trenches” viewpoint, I had to help remind her that she wasn’t the one responsible for doing the heavy lifting (performance feedback, discipline, terminations, etc.). That honor goes to the managers and leaders within the organization.

I’m not saying we don’t take a stand and fight for what needs to be done. I’m just saying that we might not always do that in a direct, observable manner. For those of you just getting started, don’t let that escape you. I was frustrated for a while until I realized that there were alternative routes to get to the results I was seeking.

One book I read and continue to reread is How to Win Friends and Influence People. If you haven’t read it, then you should grab a copy and take notes. It’s good stuff.

Do you have a way you like to secretly influence others at work? Any particular situations you wish you could change but don’t see a way how?

Communicating layoffs

Communicating layoffs has to be hard work. I’ve never done it, but even having conversations that affect the livelihood of employees one-on-one is tough enough. Recently I ran across this great article titled “The Speech I Wish CEOs Would Give [for Layoffs]” by Dale Dauten. Link to the original post is at the bottom, but this was too good not to share. After you read it you’ll see that it’s less about how to communicate layoffs and more about alternative solutions, but trust me, it’s worth your time.

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Sure, there are situations where layoffs are inevitable, but I believe many could be avoided. Here\’s how I wish executives would think about layoffs, expressed as The Speech I Wish CEOs Would Give…

[Speaking to all employees] As you know, our sales revenues are down. I know that you must be worried – fear is a rational response when the media are full of images from the Great Depression. Indeed, everyone is expecting me to announce layoffs – stockholders and other investors want me to do something – anything — to help keep profits from declining, and layoffs are tangible evidence that a CEO is responding. However, I am announcing today that we will NOT be having layoffs anytime soon.

When companies proclaim that they are going to cut staff, here\’s what usually happens. Some of those “cuts” are merely positions that were put in the budget and have yet to be filled, so eliminating them doesn\’t actually reduce current spending, just future budgets. Next, and more importantly, the cuts tend to be among the least expensive employees, especially entry-level employees. Thus, should you succeed in reducing the headcount by 10%, you\’ve actually cut the spending on personnel by less than 5%, perhaps only two or three percent.

Further, total spending on salaries is just a fraction of overall costs; in our case, one-quarter of total expenses. So if you announce a ten percent lay-off, you reduce one-quarter of expenses by a few percentage points, meaning that you succeeded in cutting costs by one or two percent.

And what is the cost of that cost savings? You have fearful employees, hunkering down, devoting much of the internal conversation organization to worry. That\’s not what we hired you to think about.

So today, instead of announcing staff cuts, I am asking you to do join with me in doing the cutting – cutting waste out of our system. My goal is that we find ways to reduce costs by 10%. This will have a financial impact five times greater than cutting the staff by 10%. Further, I want you to find new efficiencies that allow us to take out expenses while better serving our customers. In other words, I\’m asking you to be creative, and for that I need confident, bold employees.

If we do this right, and do this together, we will become a better, faster organization. Together we can go without layoffs. Instead of worrying about who will stay and go, I invite you to join me in worrying about how we will become even more useful to each other and to our customers. Instead of getting rid of some of you, I\’m counting on all of you – now go out and prove me right.

Originally posted on Dale Dauten’s blog.

Boomers to Linksters: Managing Friction Between Generations

This keynote session at ALSHRM led by Meaghan Johnson started out as many of these “generations” speeches do. The speaker asks the audience to start listing things about Gen Y that annoy them and the crowd goes wild ranting about the worst possible example they can think of (completely dismissing the dozens of others in the same demographic without all the flaws). I was sure it was going to be a dud, but then the speaker turned it around on the audience by pointing out that the characteristics were those of a specific age group, not a generation group. Almost everyone acts like a goof when they are 20 years old, whether it’s 1950 or 2011. Don’t blame it on “Gen Y” or something else. :-)

A few other pertinent points

  • Knowledge retention-The knowledge loss of boomers leaving the workforce should be the focus for this generation stuff, not complaining about Gen Y/Gen X/Boomers or how to cope with them at work.
  • Informal knowledge-Boomers know the intricate details of how the business works. They know who to talk to to get a problem solved under the radar. They know who to avoid on Monday mornings before they’ve had their coffee. They know those things that you won’t find in any process manual or employee handbook.
  • Teach ’em tech-Boomers aren’t scared of technology. They want to know how using technology makes work or life easier, not just using technology for its own sake.
  • A touch of nostalgia-Younger generations have something very special to offer the older ones: passion. Remind them why they started working in the job/company/industry in the first place. Renew their spirit. That’s been the success story for my own blog. I started writing to reach out to other people just getting started in their own HR careers, but I was found and followed by people with senior-level experience who enjoyed seeing the profession through my own fresh perspective.

All in all, it was a great session and prompted some interesting thoughts. While I get tired of the same old “generation conversation,” this one gave a few twists that really made it valuable for me.

ALSHRM11-What you missed

Last Wednesday I attended ALSHRM11, also known as the Alabama State SHRM Conference. There were some great sessions, and I have started chronicling the details over at RocketHR. If you’re curious about building a culture of integrity at work, managing the differences between generations, or being innovative in your HR role, then there will be some good content going up on the other blog in the next few weeks.

Feel free to subscribe for email updates over there so you don’t miss anything. I usually only post once a week over there so it’s really easy to keep up with!