Category Archives: General

Top 5 Senior HR Competencies

Today I’m kicking off a video series on the Top Five Senior HR Competencies. I recently found a white paper that listed the top competencies for senior HR leaders, and I knew I wanted to delve into each of them and give a few thoughts on all five. Below you’ll find the intro video and links to the other 4 videos. Hope it’s beneficial to you!

  1. Effective Communication HR Competencies
  2. Strategic Thinking HR Competencies
  3. HR Knowledge HR Competencies
  4. Integrity and Ethics HR Competencies

Email subscribers click through to see the intro video below.

Nobscot HRevolution Scholarship (Free Air Fare!)

Our friends at Nobscot have put together a great scholarship contest to help HRevolution attendees pay for their travel expenses.

Click here to learn more about the scholarship.

Here’s the info to enter:

  1. Write a post on one of the three topics listed below.
  2. Post it on your own blog.*
  3. Include the required entry notification listed below on your blog post.
  4. Paste a copy of your post into the entry form.

Topics (choose one)

  1. In what ways can new technology help HR evolve to have an even greater impact on business success?
  2. How can using technology for exit interviews, new hire surveys or mentoring program administration make these HR processes/activities more successful than handling manually?
  3. Get Creative – Describe HR in the year 2050! (Fictional story format acceptable.)

Required entry notification (including links):
This is [author-name]’s entry into the 2011 Nobscot HR Evolution Scholarship Competition. Nobscot Corporation is an HR technology company specializing in key areas of employee retention including exit interviews, onboarding surveys, and corporate mentoring programs.

*Don’t have a blog? Email me your submission and we can get it on the HRevolution blog if it meets the contest requirements.

All entries will be reviewed by the Nobscot Corporation 2011 HREvolution Scholarship committee. Entries must be received by February 28, 2011. Up to 3 winners will be selected. Selection will be based on originality, intuitiveness and generally good thinking! Winners announced on March 11th, 2011.

Scholarship includes airfare up to $500 for travel within North America and up to $1000 for international travel.

HRCP-HR Certification Preparation

I have been talking about and sharing resources to help people with the HR certification exams for over a year now, and in that time I have officially promoted one specific tool to those looking for a fully-loaded study resource–HRCP. Recently I saw that they were updating their website and making some changes to their offerings to help people pass the PHR and SPHR exams. I reached out to them for some specifics that I will share below. Be sure to read to the end so you can find out how to win something special from HRCP!

Free/Neat Stuff

You can take advantage of several of the free tools they provide. With the high cost of certification in general, we all like a little free, right? :-) (FYI: if you want a discount on the HRCP materials, see this page for more info.)

  • Create a free account, take the free practice exam, Customers who have purchased the HRCP Program will have access to twice as many practice questions in the new Online Testing System!
  • Thinking about studying without the aid of a group? Check out the self study guide (PDF)
  • Not sure if you need a lot of time to study? Check out the study schedules they have put together for different test preparation styles.
  • They have a group on LinkedIn so you can share ideas and find others who are studying as well.
  • In case you’re wondering, their 2011 materials are already updated and shipping (that was fast!).
  • The newly upgraded testing system provides twice as many practice questions as part of the HRCP Program, totaling 800 questions (for the same price!).

Contest Info

Okay! So, HRCP is going to give away a free 100 question practice exam and I’m working with them to make this a recurring contest. For today, though, I have one of those exams to give away to someone. Interested?

Here’s how to enter: Simply leave a comment below telling how you plan to use your certification once you achieve it. Want a promotion? Think you can leverage it to get a new job? Maybe you’re just looking to gloat over your annoying coworkers? Let’s hear your reason for taking the PHR/SPHR exam.

Rules

  • Three sentence minimum, so be descriptive!
  • Contest ends 2/16 at midnight so get to work!
  • The winner will be randomly chosen from eligible entries using Random.org.

Lunch policy-can I work through lunch?

I enjoy talking about policies and whether or not policies are necessary. Recently someone asked me what I thought about a policy on working through lunch. The phrasing led me to believe that their employees were working from their desks while eating (and by working I mean surfing the web).

So, with that in mind, did I recommend a “no eating at your desk rule?”

No.

I encouraged my friend to look at the situation in the context of job performance. If employees are completing work and abiding by the rules, leave them be. On the other hand, if it is affecting performance by causing them to not finish their work on time, have more mistakes, etc., then approach the situation from that legitimate standpoint.

A follow up comment by my friend was that the policy would be “too hard to manage” if done piecemeal, so it should be a flat ban across the board if it went into effect. My response was that people choosing to eat at their desks or not isn’t something that really requires management (or attention) unless it impacts their level of performance.

This isn’t 1910. We don’t have to stand over people every minute of the day to “crack the whip” and make them work. If you do, then you have larger problems on your hands.

Focus more on what is accomplished and less on the how.

What are your thoughts?

What does HR certification cost?

The cost of HR certification isn’t great, but the value is what you make of it. The letters behind your name can be just one more thing for you to have to keep track of, or they can be a leverage point for finding a better job, getting a promotion, or growing in your current position.

I shot this video a while back as a special bonus for people who sign up for the free PHR/SPHR email newsletter, and I wanted to share it with you guys. Lots of SHRM chapters (ours included) have certification prep classes on their Spring calendars. My friend Bobbi is the one running the program for NASHRM, and it’s going to be pretty awesome. Wondering how getting certified can impact your career? Check out the video below.

Email subscribers will have to click through to view the video.

Informal peer recognition

informal peer recognition toolMy friend Cori at Baudville sent me this cool tool for peer to peer recognition the other day. I’m itching to try it out. When I head to our off site location later this week I’ll be delivering it and offering some encouragement/guidance to our on site HR person to get it rolling.

Peer recognition in a nutshell

The basic idea is that much of the stuff that gets done isn’t obvious to managers, so having peers recognize each other covers those “unseen yet praise-worthy” actions.

There’s also the fun element which shouldn’t be underestimated. I love telling others how awesome they are for doing something extra special. The only way to make that even more fun is to do it when others can see and hear about their accomplishment. That not only earns them some extra kudos, but it also increases the likelihood that they will make that type of action a habit.

Do you have some sort of peer recognition program at your company? It can be as informal as a bulletin board for notes or as formal as a reward program where you get recognized in some sort of ceremony. Love to hear how others do this!