Young Professional Events for SHRM Chapters

Someone recently reached out to me about young professional events for SHRM chapters. A few years back I was tagged to be the Chair for the SHRM HR Young Professional Advisory Council, and I had a great time working with the rest of the YP team trying to find out ways to help chapters engage their young professional members.

By the way, if you are looking for ideas to improve your chapter (whether it’s SHRM, ASTD, etc.), here’s a great resource I pulled together a while back: Rock Your Chapter.

Here are six ideas I’ve picked up that chapter leaders can use to improve their offerings for young professionals.

Ideas for young professional events

  1. First, know what your goal is with these young professional events. Do you want to increase membership for the young professionals? Do you want to increase engagement for existing YPs? Do you want something else? Be clear on that before you start.
  2. Look for non-confrontational events/spaces to start with. Remember, these guys, for the most part, are not veterans with 10 years of experience. They’re brand new HR professionals, and the more laid-back you can make it, the better. Maybe that’s my introverted side speaking up, but it can’t hurt to be very flexible and informal, at least to get started.
  3. Target the members of your local chapter with young professionals working for them. A large number of companies have young professionals in their ranks. You should encourage their managers and leaders to allow the YPs to visit your young professional events in order to make them a more valuable employees.
  4. Offer programming for young professionals. In the research I have conducted over the past few years, it turns out that this group of HR pros wants pretty much the same types of content as someone who has been in the field for 10 years. They just need the basic foundation in each area first to feel competent enough to starting building a career on that knowledge.
  5. Using social media isn’t a necessity, but it won’t hurt, either. I’d recommend a LinkedIn group or a Facebook group. Make it private where members can ask questions in a “safe” zone without fear of looking silly or risking any credibility. If you can get some interaction on these platforms, it can go a long way toward building a sense of community for all participants.
  6. Take a look at the young professional guide. It’s free, and it shows how you can focus on the three key areas that young HR professionals want to know about (based on some research I conducted several years ago). In case you are wondering, those three areas include:
    1. How to establish credibility
    2. How to find meaningful work
    3. How to make a career path

If your chapter does anything in the way of young professional events, I’d love to hear about them. Feel free to drop a comment below.

Thanks to Michael for prompting me to write this. It took me a little time, but I hope it was worthwhile!

9 Ways to Make HR More Credible

If there’s one thing that HR lacks in many organizations, it’s credibility. Who really listens to what you have to say? Do your managers, leadership team, and line staff have faith in your abilities to help lead the business, or do they see you as just another roadblock to getting work done every day?

Here’s the kicker–those of us in the HR space talk often about how to “get a seat at the table” or “develop a strategic HR planning process.” It’s because we want to know that we have meaning and value for our organizations.

hr credibilityBut it’s rare to think about that in the context of employees. Yeah, you might be “strategic” and “aligned” with your organization, but how much faith does the average employee have in you? How do they perceive you?

If prompted, what value would the average employee say that you bring to the organization?

With that in mind, let’s check out this fantastic list of ideas from my new pal Stephen Tovey. It’s basically a how-to manual for demonstrating your value to all staff.

If we're implementing strategies and practices to help our Companies achieve their goals, shouldn’t we make sure that the people that are going to be needed to to do things to achieve those goals know why? Shouldn’t they understand what is being asked of them? Shouldn’t they have an input? Engagement needs these things to happen, and where is the credibility of a people-strategy if the people being asked to “do” don't respect or understand those doing the asking?

Create and maintain credibility:

  1. Focus on all people, not just managers and the ones we think will help our career
  2. Work to break down “us and them” and blame barriers
  3. Support, develop, coach, mentor (do everything you can!) to up-skill managers to manage people
  4. Communicate and promote what HR is doing and why. Be honest. Encourage input and opinion.
  5. By being fair and consistent when dealing with all people
  6. By challenging managers to be better, fairer managers, not accepting the status quo and not just going along with things
  7. Be visible, be available, be empathetic
  8. Make sure the workforce planning, strategic and “behind-the-scenes bits” are meaningful, relevant and appropriate
  9. Listen to what people are saying to you. Feed it upwards. Make sure, if you're not making the decisions yourself, that you influence those that are, or at least give them all the information.

There is a disparity between what we as HR professionals, whatever our level, do and how we see ourselves and what a lot of employees think we do and how they think we behave. Source

Let’s hear it for him. It’s something that desperately needed to be said. I love the points he makes, and his final sentence is the best closer I could have hoped for.

How we see ourselves and how our employees see us are two very different things. Learn what the gap is and work to eliminate it, if possible. 

How do you maintain credibility for your HR function not only with your leadership, but with your line staff as well?

Measuring Human Resources Isn’t the Goal

When we talk about metrics, analytics, and business intelligence, we forget that measuring human resources isn’t the goal.

It’s an objective. Yes, we need to do it, but it isn’t the end of the process. At the end, after we’ve spent all the time and effort measuring human resources as best we can, all we have is data.

And it’s what you do with that data that matters.

Measuring human resources with lean analytics

This is a massive post on analytics. Not specifically written for HR, but wildly valuable. Here’s a snippet to get you started:

This should not be news to you. To win in business you need to follow this process: Metrics > Hypothesis > Experiment > Act. Online, offline or nonline.

Yet this structure rarely exists in companies.

We are far too enamored with data collection and reporting the standard metrics we love because others love them because someone else said they were nice so many years ago.

And so starts a long, detailed journey into using analytics for business.

For the visual learners

measuring human resources

This handy dandy chart is there for those of us who learn by seeing. It’s a great representation of the flow for actually using metrics versus simply collecting them. If you want to simplify that further and look at four key steps in the process, here they are:

  1. Figure out what to improve (What’s the problem?)
  2. Form a hypothesis (I think xyz will solve the problem.)
  3. Create an experiment (Let’s test xyz.)
  4. Measure and decide what to do

Each of those steps is important, but the one I see most often lacking is number 4. In the big scheme of things it’s relatively easy to guess a problem (#1), guess a solution (#2) and test out an idea on a pilot group of employees/managers (#3). It’s the moment when you are actually measuring human resources and making decisions based on those measurements that I see the problems come in. People lose focus. They don’t know what to do. They might not really want to know the answer to the problem at hand.

It could be a dozen different things, but I would encourage you that step 4 is where you see the best HR pros stand out. They are the ones that embody the true purpose of human resources.

For those measuring human resources

As I read through the amazing article I linked above, I kept wondering about HR topics, and I realized I already have a go-to resource for those questions.

If you are looking for ideas of what to measure, how to use it, etc. in an HR context, please check out everything that Cathy Missildine-Martin has ever written. She does great work and is highly competent in this area.

I Have a Strategy, No You Don’t (Book Review Video)

I Have a Strategy, No You Don’t by Howell J Malham, Jr.

Recently I received this book to review. Honestly I picked it because of the title–it sounded unique and I was interested in checking it out. Once I got into the book (it’s a quick read), I was sucked into the funny dialogue and unique illustrations of what a strategy looks like.

The book was written because the author realized that we as a society have begun to “strategy” every little thing around us. Everyone has a strategy for everything.

And most of the time, it’s not actually a strategy at all!

With that in mind, check out the video book review below. I enjoyed the book, and if you’re in a role where you are trying to define what a strategy is (or help others with that task) I think you would enjoy it. The book has occasional illustrations, witty dialogue, and a great message to help us all remember what a strategy really is, and more importantly, what it is not.

Subscribers click here to view the video.

Interested in getting the book? Here’s a link to that.

Click here to read other HR book reviews.

Career Readiness Skills, Video Games, and ACT Scores

Video games are not a substitute for career readiness skills. They teach us nothing about hard work. They are not a magic tool to prepare the next generation to take the reigns in workplace leadership roles.

Recently an international speaker, Mike Walsh, came to Huntsville to give a presentation. I didn’t see the presentation, but he was quoted in the local technology magazine discussing career readiness skills.

Walsh said that Parents shouldn’t discourage their children from playing video games because new age executives often recruit the best gamers to come run their companies: “If you can lead a virtual team of dwarves and elves to attack an imaginary castle, it’s possible you can lead new technology into the evolving marketplace.”

Yeah, right.

Video games and career readiness skills

I really enjoyed real time strategy games when I was younger–mainly high school and sometimes during college. But when I had kids and a full time job, I left them behind. I say that to explain that I have no beef with the games themselves. It’s a fun way to pass the time, even if it doesn’t offer any real benefits in the long term.

So let’s look back at his statement.

“If you can lead a virtual team of dwarves and elves to attack an imaginary castle, it’s possible you can lead new technology into the evolving marketplace.”

Being able to play a video game is not going to translate into the workforce very well. You are not learning the meaning and value of hard, difficult work. Game doesn’t work out? Reset button. Start again.

In the long run, how are these young people supposed to be ready for a job that demands time, doesn’t have an easy “off” switch, and requires them to do thinks they sometimes don’t want to do? This is a silly statement catering to people who want to feel like their little boy/girl isn’t wasting an average of an hour a day on games.

I’m not saying to eliminate them completely. I’m just saying that parents don’t need to blindly believe that imaginary mining for imaginary gold to make imaginary weapons is going to help their child learn how to excel in the workplace.

Educational career readiness skills

career readiness skillsWhile we’re talking career readiness skills, a report by ACT, the college test prep administrators, offers a bleak look at the next generation soon to be entering the workforce. Check out the chart.

Fully 28% of all graduates did not meet any of the College Readiness Benchmarks, while 47% met between 1 and 3 Benchmarks. Twenty-five percent of all 2012 ACT-tested high school graduates met all four College Readiness Benchmarks, meaning that 1 in 4 were academically ready for college coursework in all four subject areas.

So that means that approximately the same amount of students were ready for the core classes in college as the amount of students who were ready for none of the core classes.

I know we’re talking education vs. work habits right here, but that’s still a flag in my opinion. I hire for engineers, accountants, and technical writers. You need to understand math, science, reading, and English to be able to do these jobs. There’s no “I’m a quick learner” with these things.

Maybe a little too much time spent helping the dwarves invate the castle and not enough time storming the homework sessions? I can only guess…

What are your thoughts on these two career readiness skills topics? Are they interrelated? Why or why not?

 

How to Lay Off Employees

Last year I had to learn how to lay off employees. I learned the way many of us learn these things. By doing it. how to lay off employeesIt wasn’t fun. It wasn’t exciting. But it got accomplished. Here’s what I learned about how to lay off employees from that experience.

5 tips for how to lay off employees

  1. Care. This starts long before the layoff conversation. They need to know that there is a foundation of concern for them as a person beyond the job function. If you’ve put effort into showing your care and concern for them on previous occasions, it truly makes this conversation easier. They understand and accept it when you tell them that you’ve done all you could to find work for them. The news is hard, but it’s cushioned slightly by the way you treat them with dignity and respect. 
  2. Give all the details that you can. Hiding details doesn’t help the situation. Give them the accurate picture without releasing any proprietary information or something about another employee.
  3. Do it privately. If at all possible, handle it somewhere private where the employee’s reaction will not be seen by others. This is key.
  4. Do it quickly. Don’t delay. Don’t sit on the news. Do tell them as soon as you know. Do give them face time if at all possible.
  5. Have a manager with you for support. It’s a tough conversation, and in 99% of cases they have a relationship with their manager that is deeper than their relationship with you. Give them a familiar face for comfort, even if it doesn’t change the end result.

Let’s be honest. Nobody ever wants to have that conversation with someone. However, if you must, here’s a short example of how to break the news.

How to lay off employees-a sample conversation

Hey, Bob. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me. There’s no easy way to say this, but we are facing some tight budgets. We have been working to find additional work, but those efforts have not panned out. We are going to have to let some of our people go, and you are on that list. We truly wish it didn’t have to be that way, but we do not have a choice at this time. If you are okay with it, I would be happy to help look over your resume and send that out to a few other recruiters I know in the area. Obviously we’d like to bring you back if we find the work coverage, but I don’t know a timeline on that. Here is how your benefits will work… Here is what to expect… Here is how your last day will go… Here’s how you can file for unemployment if you are interested… Okay, I know it’s sudden and a shock for you, but is there anything I can answer right now for you? I would appreciate it you could keep this to yourself until we have a chance to meet with the rest of the affected people. If you have any questions or anything in the next few days, here’s my card. Feel free to call or email me at any time. Thanks again for your time, Bob. I’ll be in touch soon.

Relatively short, it gets all the pertinent points across, and it makes the other person feel like they matter (because they do, but you’re reminding them of that!). That’s what I’ve learned about how to lay off employees. Do you have any lessons, tips, or ideas to share?

Hiring, Onboarding, Culture, and More on DriveThruHR

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with the great team over at DriveThruHR about some of the things that are “keeping me up at night,” so to speak. We discussed hypergrowth (how to prepare for 50% growth in less than a month), what it means to hire for culture fit, and more. It was a great conversation, and I had a lot of fun discussing the things that make us better HR professionals.

I’d love for you to check it out and let me know what you think! The player is embedded below. Subscribers click here to see the player.

If the player doesn’t work, feel free to use this link to listen to the episode.

I’d love to hear your thoughts!