What do you do on the first days at a new job?

My friend Stephen started a new job this week. His post about first impressions is a fun read and will transport you back to the first days on the job. Click over and read it (should only take a minute or two). He asked for some tips/advice on how to spend those first days, and I wanted to share a few of my own thoughts here.

I am proud of you, my friend! They are very lucky to have you on board. I’m in the exact same position as you. Our company is split between two main locations, and I’m trying to support both areas. If possible, plan a trip to the other locale and give them plenty of notice in advance so they can prepare questions for you. I had that opportunity after being here only a few weeks and it was a great opportunity to meet them and make them more comfortable with me.

Find out what your senior leaders believe in. Like Steve mentioned, find out what is best about their culture and commit yourself to that. I found out that our senior leaders firmly believe in our core values, and I now try to tie those into any project I’m working on so it will have their support.

On the flip side, find out what they like least, but like Lisa said, keep from “doing” anything about it until you have time to see the big picture. There will be plenty of time later to fix what’s broken. The thing to do now is find out what is broken and why it hasn’t been fixed before now. Is it because it’s too costly, takes too much time, is a pet project of an executive, etc.?

Two things I’ve taken to doing when I first start a job:

  • Immediately schedule a 1 month review with my manager and get it on the calendar.
  • Start a draft Word document and write down everything you do that takes more than a few minutes. At the end of the day/week/month, you will be amazed at the things you’ve done since starting, and it will help you when you sit down with your manager to see if you are focusing on what is important to them.

Anyone else have ideas for the first days on the job?

Management, game changers and hire my friend

I am constantly amazed at the ability of people to write great content day in and day out. It might not always be the same person or the same blog where I find a gem, but it’s amazing that this stuff is out there free for us to enjoy. Okay, enough wonderment. Let’s dig into some great reading!

5 minutes, use it for more than just another task

The best way to use the last five minutes of every day? It’s a little reflection to make sure you are on the right track. Seriously, skip the last few minutes of “if I can just get one more thing accomplished” and slow down. Look at what you spent your day on and see if it was what you had planned. If it was, did you get as much done as you expected? If not, what threw you off track? Are you now behind on other projects? It’s all about taking some time to look at the big picture instead of being trapped in the day-to-day.

Busy=Happy?

Sometimes my manager stops and tells me she worries that I have too much on my plate. Well, the other day I was able to toss back the piece of research about busy employees being happier. It’s interesting that people with too little to do were the most unhappy. We sometimes think that people enjoy being lazy at work, but apparently there’s a balance in there somewhere between being slammed and having some time for other things (like the reflection activity mentioned above).

New managers? Check it

With a new set of managers growing into their responsibilities at work, I’m always looking for ideas on how to help them grow in their supervisory skills. This is a big picture overview of some of the common new manager pitfalls, and it’s well written.

Hire my friend?

I know a great HR pro who is in the Chicago area and is looking to get back to work. She has been blogging for a while and has some great insights into leading others. If you are looking for a talented professional with great experience, Sabrina might be the person for you. Find her on LinkedIn if you want to learn more about her skills.

Game changers

The last piece is a great one that I found on Fast Company. It’s all about questions game changers must ask. I have no idea if I can be considered someone of “game changer” status, but I love asking questions and challenging the status quo. The big ones for me:

  • Do you have new ideas about where to look for new ideas?
  • Have you figured out how your organization’s history can help to shape its future?
  • Do your people care more than the competition?
  • Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?

Check it out to see more and decide which ones you need to ask in the coming days, weeks, and months.

Anything special you’ve read recently? Share it in the comments.

Being influential, communication, and culture shock

sticking togetherI have been writing the RocketHR blog for almost 18 months now, and at times it’s an interesting existence. I try to write with a little less opinion and silliness that pervades my other blog, because I am not only representing myself but my chapter as well. Recently that got a lot easier as several other SHRM chapters and state councils have started using blogs to reach out to their members and share information. Today we’re going to kick off a rotating series to promote other SHRM blogs and help others to learn more about the best chapter blog in north Alabama. Let’s dig into the good stuff that others have shared!

Greater Cincinnati HR Association

It’s a big question, and we all would love to know: who is the most influential person for 2011? I think you will be surprised by who has the opportunity to make the top of this list in this great post by Steve Browne.

Illinois State Council

We hear a lot about communication these days, but this neat story about communicating up and down the line by Dave Ryan takes us back to a time when tools for sharing were much simpler. While he talks about a method that is old-fashioned, I still love telling people that the best way to be “social” is to pick up the phone!

HR Mouth of the South (HR Florida)

My current employer is really focused on a few things, and one of them is communication. We try to make it more difficult than it really is, but doing it consistently and in a timely manner is the basis for simple communication. This piece by Joyce Chastain will make you stop and think about how you are doing in this area.

Birmingham SHRM

My friends in the Birmingham SHRM chapter have been busy of late, but this post from their archives is one that I really enjoy. Often when we think of relocation, it’s in hard numbers and how things will work for the company. We rarely think about the effect on employees and any potential culture shock from the change.

And there you have it! Four great SHRM blogs that you should check into. Thanks for supporting these other chapters and state councils and for keeping RocketHR going strong!

HR person of the year?

A few days ago, I saw this tweet about a 2010 HR person of the year contest. Here is the original post on ERE with the details. I figured I would go in and vote for someone I know, but much to my surprise my own name was on the list! (Who was in charge of vetting these submissions, anyway?) I remember jokingly telling my wife that she needed to vote for me so I could get at least one vote. :-)

Then I got an intriguing email a few days ago from Geoff Webb, the organizer of the contest. He told me I had won!

I just wanted to say a quick “thank you” to everyone who  took a few minutes out of their day to go and vote for me. It means a lot to have you all as friends.

What does it mean?

As a side benefit of winning the contest, the event organizers are bringing me to Toronto in September for Radical Innovation (the TED Talks for the HR industry). The neat part? I’m not only invited to participate in this event as a spectator. It also sounds like I get to speak as well! Sounds like a blast if you ask me…

Anyway, just want to say thanks again to everyone and to Geoff for his hard work putting this contest together. I sincerely appreciate it! Here’s Geoff’s “official” announcement.

Trench HR, Digital Influence, and Blogging

Recently I posted a humorous item about being listed as a “Top 25 Digital HR Influencer.” It was all in fun, but there was something more serious brought to my attention by my friend Charlie Judy on the Trench HR LinkedIn group for “in the trenches” HR pros. He wanted to know why there were so few “real” HR people on the list and how we could get more people involved.

If you remember my Put Up or Shut Up goals for 2011, one of those is to help more people get started blogging. Just putting that out there might seem scary for you. It’s really not. If you don’t have the time for social media or you just don’t have the patience to get your own blog up and running, I would love to help. I want your voice out there.

My friend Steve Browne recently (finally!) started his own blog after months of people begging him to start one. He got started doing guest posts like the one on my site and built an audience of people who loved to hear what he had to say. Then someone gave him a free blog setup for Christmas. :-)

If you have something to say, let’s talk. Even if you think this blog might not be the forum for you, I’ll gladly help you reach out to someone else if I can. The best blog posts are those that talk about personal stories of triumph and tragedy, and everyone in the HR/recruiting fields has seen their fair share of those two things.

And if that’s not enough to spur you on, there could even be some PHR/SPHR recertification credits in there for you. Recently, the Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI) announced that they would award recertification credits for blog posts that fit their requirements. Here’s what it takes:

  • Credit is awarded under the Research/Publishing category.
  • Blog posts must be 700 words or more on a subject related to the HR knowledge base.
  • Posts must contain facts/data and not be an editorial or opinion piece.
  • Blogs must be posted on a site that is open to the public, whether it is the writer\’s blog or as a guest blog post for another site, such as SHRM Connect.
  • Links to posts must be provided in the submission for recertification.

If you are interested in blogging for fun, for the emotional release, or just because you can get a few recertification credits, please let me know. I haven’t been around this profession as long as many of you, but I know something for certain.

Blogging makes you better at HR.

Own Your Own Growth

own your own growthI saw this image in the footer of someone’s email the other day, and I thought it was pretty interesting. The phrase “own your own growth” immediately turned my head, because I believe we are all in control of our own knowledge growth and development. It’s a part of being passionate about what you do. Here are some other things that occurred to me right off the bat.

First, it’s obviously an encouragement to take charge of your own growth and development. Don’t expect someone else to walk up to you and hand you something to learn right at the exact moment that you need it. Start building your knowledge early and anticipate future stresses on your limits (and plan accordingly). My advice? Push your own boundaries before someone else does it for you.

Secondly, the ring across the top talks about some of the various opportunities for growth that are available to us. Some are obvious, but costly (education). Some are cheaper, but it’s sometimes difficult to get high quality information (webinars). However, at some point most of us have been through some, if not all, of the list.

  • Formal education
  • Training
  • Certifications
  • Seminars
  • Webinars
  • Coaching

And finally, something about the tree took me a minute to figure out. There was something profound in there, but I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. Then it dawned on me. The tree growing from the ground reaches up and out and is visible to everyone around us. They know when we have the knowledge or skills to do something, because they can physically see us accomplishing the task.

However, the growth and development underground is something different. That signifies to me that we have a lot of knowledge just below the surface. People have the skills we need, but some of them just can’t be seen at first glance. However, this pool of talent is always there for us to individually pull from if we are in need, because we realize it’s there. The key for a lot of organizations is finding out what is below the surface when it’s not readily visible.

Anyway, that’s just a few of the thoughts I had from this simple image. What do you see? Are there other tools for growth not listed in the bullet point list above?

Attracting, retaining, and engaging members of your SHRM chapter

In November I released the free Rock Your Chapter guide to the public. The intent was to create something to help local chapters and state councils to attract, retain, and engage their members. Since then, the guide has been downloaded over 200 times! I just want to thank everyone for their support and ask that you continue to share this tool. Many chapters have a change in leadership with the new calendar year, and this would be a great way to get a jump start on new ideas for 2011.

Rave reviews

I’ve also had a lot of great reviews/testimonials from the volunteer leader community. It’s amazing to get the support from everyone that I have received. A quick sample:

Ben hits the nail on the head. “Rock Your Chapter” rocks!!
Posted by Lori Goldsmith, SPHR, GPHR

Thanks for putting your ideas on paper and working to make us all better.
(Cincinnati HR) Posted by Julie Johnson

This is great stuff! I will share with the Guam and Saipan chapters and let you know the results. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.
Posted by Katherine Gillespie Dote

Nicely done. Finally had a chance to download and read. Will happily pass along to others as well!
Posted by Bradley Galin, SPHR

Great book Ben. I printed it, read it and have sent links to my Chapter Board Members. I also posted a link on both the Georgia SHRM State Council LinkedIn Group and the Georgia SHRMState Council Membership LinkedIn Group!
Posted by Kevin Smith, SPHR

Can you help?

I love giving these things away for free. The best part for me is knowing that it’s helping a person somewhere that I don’t even know, simply because someone like you shared it with them. Here are a few ways you can help me (and other chapters in your area):

  • Send an email to your local and/or state board with the link to this page
  • Share the link on twitter
  • Post it on your local chapter or state council Facebook page or LinkedIn group
  • Tell other volunteers you know about how much you enjoyed it (assuming you did!)
  • Tell me about how it helped you so I can make the next one better

Thanks for the support, everyone! Click here if you want to download the guide or see the reviews.