Category Archives: General

Chris Brown and Management Fads

Today’s post is kicking off with a fun little video you might have seen making the rounds online last fall. (Subscribers may have to click through to view.)

Within a few days of its release, this video had thousands of views on YouTube. Even now when I hear that song by Chris Brown I still think of the video. This extremely long introduction is helping me make a comparison between fads and those management/leadership training initiatives we’ve all been a part of.

Here’s the miracle training sysem…

Okay, we\’ve all been through the latest management fads, right? If not, here\’s how it usually goes.

  1. Management decides something\’s not working correctly.
  2. They hire a consultant.
  3. The consultant brings in a new amazing system that will solve all their problems, make their coffee, and even shine their shoes.
  4. Management finds out how hard it really is to stick with the system and quickly loses interest.
  5. Everyone else (after being put through the fad-wringer yet again) is more jaded and distrustful of management than ever.

Does that sound familiar? I hope not, but I’m pretty sure it’s ubiquitous. So what can we do about these things? I don’t have an answer for how to solve the problem long-term, but I do have an idea for the short run. Keep this in mind when you’re being pitched to with another silver bullet: there’s no such thing as a cure-all.

Yes, you can work on issues one at a time, but you just can’t fix everything all at once. Not that you shouldn’t make the attempt to advance the organization and develop your employees, but keep that fact in mind.

So, do you have something you’d like to share? Maybe a training session gone bad? I’d love to hear your war stories!

Shout Outs and Link Love

megaphone shout outToday I’m giving a few shout outs. Why? Because people are doing great things and I don’t want you to miss out.

I had the opportunity recently to speak with Mike Haberman of Omega HR Solutions and author of the HR Observations blog. I’ve been reading Mike’s blog for almost a year now, and he is darn brilliant. His experience and passion show through his work, and I am glad we made contact. There are some amazing posts in his archives, but make sure you check out the recent ones he wrote on the idea of a free agent nation being alive and well and HR survival lessons from Drucker. Continue reading →

HRevolution Blogging Session Help

So, I just might kinda sorta be leading a blogging session at HRevolution. Cool, huh? :-) Well, I wandered back and forth at HRev #1 snapping pictures and trying to listen in on both the beginner and expert sessions. I know there’s a lot of variety out there with regard to blogging ability, skillset, interest, etc. What I would like to know is what you’d like to see in a blogging session (if you even care).

At the first event, we split the bloggers into beginner and advanced groups. They covered everything from website troubleshooting to getting post ideas from Google Reader to adding images to a WordPress post. After the event was over, I kept up with the beginner blogger session attendees and tried to make sure and answer each and every blogging question they brought up. I had a lot of fun and hope to do the same this time around. Continue reading →

Free HR Flashcards-Take 2

human resources certification flashcards

I have more free HR flashcards to give away!

Read on to learn how you can get in the drawing for this prize valued at $25.

The Scoop

I’m offering the Rock the PHR eBook for only $14.97 for a limited time. All you have to do is use the discount code flashcard to get the lower price. (The package has has multiple bonuses that more than double the value of the guide.) Continue reading →

Free Employee Engagement Webinar

Free human resources webinarI hear tell that there’s a free webinar coming up on April 15th! I’ll be listening in. Will you? It’s called A Perfect Match: 10 M’s of Employee Engagement and will be hosted by LinkedHR. I’ve already reserved my seat and hope to blog about the content, but it wouldn’t hurt to experience it for yourself. It also qualifies for one strategic credit from HRCI, and I know it’s tough to get those for this kind of price!

I had the great opportunity to see Laura Huckabee-Jennings and her presentation on employee engagement entitled “Leaders Have Followers” at a NASHRM event earlier this year. That event opened my eyes to the sort of impact employee engagement can have on an organization, and I’m hoping this free webinar will take that even further.

The event site has this to say as a teaser:

Lately, the engagement phenomenon has caught the attention of researchers and practitioners in the HR field – and for good reason. Engagement, a powerful combination of energy, passion, and focus, is connected to more effective leadership, stronger commitment, lower turnover, and increased customer loyalty. This session will introduce participants to this emerging trend.

Click here to register for this free webinar!

HRevolution 2009 Participant Sound Off

HRevolution survey results I, like many of the former HRevolution attendees, love talking about the event. It sometimes gets tough for those who haven’t been there to understand just what it means to those of us who have.

Today I’ll share a few perspectives from those who attended the first time around. If you like, you can see my little recollection of the weekend at this link. Maybe they can help you (along with these confessions from a few others) get a clearer picture of what the event is really like. Here are a few anonymous quotes from past attendees in response to the question “What did you like best about HRevolution?”

I’ve only edited where necessary to ensure the privacy of the survey respondents. The rest of the awesomeness is all theirs! Continue reading →