Category Archives: General

Winners, Results, and Other Updates

Just a quick post today with various updates. I just got home from my Thursday night men’s meeting and it’s 11:54pm. Whew. Tiring, but totally worth the effort.

Survey and winners

I notified the survey drawing winners on Thursday 2/28 via email. If you didn’t get an email from me, sorry about that. Better luck next time! I still appreciate all the effort, even if you didn’t happen to be in the pool of winners.

Speaking of the survey results, I had 99 responses to the survey. Holy cow. That was an amazing response, and I’ve only been able to read through half the answer so far.

What have I learned?

Well, the responses are all over the map. I need to aggregate and quantify the results, but it was interesting to see that some things (video, for instance) were both loved and hated. Some people really like book reviews, others are not so interested. And some people left the most amazing, kind comments. I am so blessed!

Book club progress

This week I led the second meeting for the NASHRM book club. Our local chapter is running this initiative this year and it was a blast as we moved through the book. We’re swapping to a new book next month, and I expect the group to continue growing and developing over time. If you’re interested in something like this for your chapter, reach out to me and I’d be happy to share some details.

You need this

Smile file. Do you have one? If not, you need one. I’ve been doing it for years, and I recommend it to everybody. Here’s how it works.

So you get an email from someone with a kind word or comment. Create a folder in your email client called “Happy Thoughts” or “Smile File” or “Let’s Do a Happy Dance.” Then when you get another email that makes you smile, drop it in that folder.

On the days that you are having a tough time or feel like things just aren’t going your way (why am I even doing this job, anyway?!?), just open up that smile file and read a few of those kind words. It will remind you of why you do what you do every day. And as HR pros, that is sometimes your only avenue for stress relief!

And that’s all I can think of at this point. Heading in to kiss the girls and then to bed for the rest of the morning. Hope you have a phenomenal Friday!

Rock it,

Ben

How to Know When Someone is Lying in an Interview

Lying in an interview? Say it ain’t so!

I wanted to share a short back-and-forth I had with a friend about how to know when someone is lying in an interview. I’ve shortened where I could to get to the point, but the lying discussion doesn’t happen until the end. I think the discussion is worth reading through nonetheless. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the process as well!

lying in an interview—

Does recruiting for culture fit really work?

I’ve been working to recruit for culture fit, and I’ve been thinking… Where is the culture that the bad attitudes belong?

I think there's a place for everyone, and the “bad attitude” is a misalignment in many cases. Your attitude is awesome when it comes to picking up the phone, serving clients/customers/candidates, etc. If someone tried to turn you into a benefits analyst you'd have a terrible disposition.

Not sure if that's culture-specific or industry/job specific. We hire for people who fit our core values. Some of them are a little more “open and honest” than others, and what they say is often construed as rude or condescending. But that's who they are and why we hired them in the first place.

Shoving me into a job that requires filing and organization will turn me into a monster. Letting me play all day with different areas of HR makes me just about the happiest person in the building.

Your turn.

Beyond culture to personal job fit

good spin. but don’t some people have JUST a bad attitude? How can we as HR rockstars help people identify what they excel at that makes them happy and grow in that area so they can work in that area??

A permanent case of attitude issues? Yeah, they are the perpetually underemployed/unemployed, if I had to guess.

Part of the problem is bringing people on to do a job when it is not really their passion. At some point the pain of doing something like that will overwhelm them and they leave to find another job. I think that's why many people are perpetually changing jobs every 1-2 years. They are looking for a J-O-B to solve their problems, when they really haven't taken the time to determine what they truly love and want to do. Just because it pays the bills doesn't make it a good career choice long term. This describes the majority of people in a nutshell:

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

Do what's expected. Do what's comfortable. Do what you know. Do what your parents did.

All are recipes for failure.

When people take charge, look inward at what they love, and then pursue jobs and companies that align with those values and interests, the world of HR becomes much simpler.

What if the people are lying in an interview?

I feel like the answers could still be faked- if you’re interviewing me and I know what your culture is and how important it is in making a hiring decision I pretty much know what kind of answer you’re digging for.

So if someone does that much research and fakes it well enough to get in, it will eventually show somewhere that they were being false in the interview. We can't screen for 100% fit but it still weeds out the 90% I would say.

You're in a tough spot, but it's also an amazing opportunity if you can get your current organization to truly focus on their culture.

Be sure they understand that leveraging culture isn't confined to recruiting. The vendor management guidelines video I did was a very real example of how we use culture externally to help us achieve our goals. Training. Development. Promotion. Termination. Every area is another opportunity to reinforce the core values and culture they want to enforce. Bringing them in on the front end is the beginning of a long and tough, yet very rewarding, process.

How do you determine if someone is lying in an interview? 

New Job Orientation for Remote Employees

While we have plenty of resources for how to onboard new hires, there isn’t much info with regard to new job orientation for remote employees. How do you handle off site employee orientation? What do you say? How do you communicate?

Today we’ll look at all that, plus I’ll share a few ideas on how to make it especially valuable for the employee. New job orientation isn’t easy, and it’s even harder when you’re off site! Here’s the message from a reader that got my brain fixed on the topic:

Just read your article about Onboarding. Some really useful stuff there but I was wondering if you have ever written about trying to onboard a new employee in a remote location where there is no team in place yet. I am currently doing this and came across your article in my desperate search for some help. — I'm located in our office and the new employee is located in the remote office which has the awesome advantage of being in a different time zone. We do have employees in the office there but nobody who will be doing anything like his specific job. This is also my first employee ever so I'm having a minor meltdown as you can imagine. There are so many things like taking them to lunch etc that I can't do so I'm trying to figure out ways to substitute these kind of team bonding activities. We are going to be hiring a few more people in the next few weeks but I want to try and get it at least partially right with this first one so that he doesn't run screaming from the building. Any advice would be most gratefully received.

Here’s what I had to say.

Very neat! I definitely agree that you have a challenge on your hands. I would make it a point to use video chat if you have that capability. That’s the most personal, and personable, interaction you can have with someone who’s thousands of miles away. Another neat idea might be to do a quick video tour of your local office, show them who else works for the organization, and let each person wish them a quick “welcome” message. That would take ten minutes to walk around, record, and upload/send, but it would be very valuable for creating a connection among the staff.

If you have the capability, you might also put together a short writeup on your culture, what it’s like working there, and the things your leaders believe in. I’ve attached the one I recently put together as a sample. If there are no standing meetings in place, this is a great opportunity to create one and allow each location to kick in a few ideas about what they are working on, any issues they are facing, etc. over a group conference call.

Let me know how it goes!

How to approach new job orientation for remote employees

Here’s a short video where I discuss this topic.

Additional resources

What about you? How do you handle new job orientation for remote employees?

Human Resources Blogs (Why We Do It)

So maybe you read half a dozen human resources blogs, or maybe this is the only one you follow. Why do people write human resources blogs? What’s the point?

Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but I can give you some insight into why I write (and read) blogs about human resources every week.

Human resources blogs and my career

human resources blogsWhy in the heck would someone start an HR blog?

Good question.

I started writing this blog four years ago as a way to help others just getting into HR. I wanted to share what I was learning, offer advice to common problems, and get some accountability for myself beyond the four walls of my employer.

And boy have those come true.

The blog has helped me immensely. It was a factor in getting my current job to some degree. It wasn’t a golden ticket or anything, but it also wasn’t completely ignored in the hiring process. I can still remember the president of the company sitting there at his desk and scrolling through my blog while I was being interviewed.

It has opened up doors to partner with great companies and people in so many ways. It has broken down barriers that would have prevented me from connecting and networking with peers around the world. It helped to launch one of the first HR unconference events. It’s just been amazing, frankly.

But that only covers the past four years. What does the future hold? I have no idea, but I’m incredibly excited.

The purpose of human resources blogs

I think the people who take the time and effort to write HR blogs are doing a great service to the profession. For too long “personnel” was seen as a barrier to getting things done. HR pros taking the time to share unique and interesting ideas are helping to shape the future of our profession. Here are two key ways that’s happening:

  • Transparency-HR as a profession has long been sequestered from the rest of the organization. In those circumstances, it’s no surprise that business leaders, line management, and staff workers don’t have much faith in HR. They don’t know what HR does! Sure, they know we help to recruit people and help with terminating the bad ones. But the gap between hiring and firing, the employee lifecycle, is where HR can truly shine. The blogs out there that are sharing what HR truly does on a daily basis are the ones that are the most popular. No surprise there.
  • Insights-A corollary to the previous point is the insight that we can provide. We talk about what we are doing, because we’ve been influenced by others doing the same thing. If you stop for a second, you can probably think of an HR person somewhere (maybe a friend or just an acquaintance) who is doing something that you’d like to be doing. They have an innovative program. They have a unique process. They have something that you’d like to learn how to do. Or maybe you just want to make existing processes better–there’s no shame in that. But we share what we share because we want others to benefit from our success. We are also a little selfish in that we want to get the same thing out of it. We want to find new, unique ideas that help us with our own jobs. And that’s okay, too. I’ve yet to meet the person who has it all figured out and needs no help, insight, or encouragement from others. 

Those two points can’t possibly encapsulate the entire spectrum of HR blogs, but it’s a good place to start.

Human resources blogs and you

So now you know a little more of the “why” behind human resources blogs. So how can you use them?

This post I wrote a year ago about human resource challenges is a great example of how you can take what you’re reading and put it into effect in your own life and career. I also included a similar challenge in the entry level HR course for those new to the profession. I wanted them to understand that HR blogs are not just for entertainment–they’re also for learning new concepts and forcing our brains to think differently about the problems we’re faced with.

I talk with readers via email every single week. They are trying to implement ideas they learned about on this blog, and I’m all too happy to converse with them about how to customize the topics to their unique situations. They are the ones who are truly benefiting from the HR blogs out there.

I know that 99+% of you are not interested in starting an HR blog. And that’s just fine. I talked about why HR people don’t blog previously, and I still believe those reasons are true today.

So those are a few of my thoughts on human resources blogs. What are yours? How have they helped you?

A piece of news: I am still working to notify award winners from last week’s contest/survey. I expect to be able to announce each one sometime this week. Thanks to everyone who helped me by taking the survey last week! I truly appreciate it.

An Open Letter to Our Leadership Team

To the other members of the Leadership Team,

You guys aren’t right in the head. Well, some people would say that, anyway.

See, you are not like most companies. You think differently. You frame decision-making with two separate (but related) lenses: customers and employees. That’s so uncommon that I just had to let you know how much I appreciate it.

Also, I just wanted to say a quick “thank you” for all of your support. In many companies, HR is looked at as a hurdle to “real” work getting accomplished. It’s an afterthought at best and complete avoidance at worst.

My peers in the HR profession are constantly fighting and clawing to earn recognition for their efforts and gain influence at the senior level of their organizations.

And I don’t have that problem.

See, when we filter the majority of our decisions through “how does this affect our people,” that puts HR at the forefront of what we do. And, if I had to guess, that’s one of the keys to our continued success these past five years.

We have warts, just like any organization. Yes, sometimes I have to remind the team of that focus and I’ve had to push a little in the past to avoid policies and practices that could damage our relationships with our staff, but those interactions are infrequent and innocuous.

My teammates in contracts, accounting, and management all share the same goals. We take the time to work together to define those every year and hold each other accountable. We take action and get results.

We have a “musketeer mentality,” as I once heard someone put it. We’re all for one, and one for all. We don’t ignore things that need doing simply because “that’s not my area.”

We know that if someone stumbles, we all feel the pain. So we work together to head off potential issues, address problems as they arise, and fight the ever-present pull of mediocrity. 

I get to come in here every day and do what I love. Many people can’t say that in other organizations. This has been an amazing experience for me so far, and I’m excited to learn what tomorrow, next week, and next year will bring.

Keep up the great work. I’ll try to keep up.

Your HR guy,

Ben Eubanks

Improving Hires in Two Easy Steps

Today we have a guest post from Mary Ila Ward, a local HR/OD ninja. Enjoy!

Put first things first:  2 Steps to Improve Hiring

Ben had a great post this week about defining corporate culture.   Incorporating corporate values and culture is so important in making hiring decisions. I'm currently helping a client review and revise their selection procedures.  One of the things that I've noticed in helping them is that their job dimensions, and therefore the criteria they use to select people, have never been connected to their corporate values.

Any time I engage in a client project, I seek to link what we are doing with their strategic mission and values, so it was imperative for us to help them link job dimensions to value dimensions.  Here's how you do it…

2 Steps to Improve Your Hiring Process:

  1. Know what the job requires and what tasks are involved for the job.   In HR or I/O speak, do a job analysis. I know this sounds like a no brainer, but you'd be surprised at how many companies have position descriptions, but do not review them regularly and do not analyze the job to make sure what they are requiring is even accurate.  This requires an actual observation of someone doing the job.

I advocate, like Ben does, picking a superstar and documenting key characteristics they exhibit as well as the skills they have that make them a superstar.  However, I've found a lot of value in looking at a low (you're just about to show them the door type) performer and an average performer for comparison purposes.  This has really helped me define several key dimensions.

 An Example

With this client, I saw a huge contrast in the way the low and high performer handled complex, stressful issues.   The high performer had a sense of urgency, but a sense of calmness with that urgency in fixing the problems.   The calmness came in rationally deciding what caused the problem, which aided in fixing it so that it wouldn't happen again. The low perform, on the other hand, exhibited almost neurosis panic when something went wrong.  He had a sense of urgency, but combined with the panic, it made things completely worse instead of better.  He could not tell you why the problem happened, and did not want to understand what caused it.  You can see how this dimension could be defined more accurately than just a sense of urgency in order to make a wise hiring decision.

 

  1. Match job requirements to corporate values or culture.  If you haven't defined your corporate values or culture, then follow Ben's step to do so this week.  If you already have, examine your job requirements against your values.   By and large, your job requirements should be an easy match to value dimensions.  If they aren't, you may need to add more values or eliminate selection requirements from your list.

 An Example

One corporate value my client has defined is “Courage”.  This value is defined in several ways, but one thing that sticks out to me in this definition is “be responsive and flexible”, and “do the right thing”.   Another is “Ownership” defined as “be proud of your work”, “be responsible for your actions,” “operate with a ‘can do' attitude”.  I love this value!  You can see how we defined the job dimension described above to tie to these values:

  • Ability to alter one's behavior in a calm manner in order to respond to unforeseen problems (courage).
  • Desire to understand why equipment or machinery has caused manufacturing issues and the ability to respond appropriately in a prompt manner (ownership).

What job requirements do you have that are tied to your corporate values or culture?

mary ila wardAbout Horizon Point Consulting, Inc.: Horizon Point Consulting, Incorporated’s mission is to provide career, leadership and workforce coaching and consulting that leads to a passionate and productive workforce.

Mary Ila's passion is helping others create and maintain passion in the workplace.   To learn more, visit the company's website at: http://horizonpointconsulting.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

The Secret of Teams (Book Review)

The Secret of Teams: What Great Teams Know and Do by Mark Miller

the-secret-of-teamsI recently finished reading the secret of teams, and my head is reeling. Every one of us work on a number of teams, and the concepts in this book can help us to achieve greater success within each of those team environments.

What I liked

Normally I throw in a bunch of text here, but today I thought I would drop in a video review. Enjoy! Continue reading →