If you’ve been reading awhile, you might have seen one of the free eBooks I’ve put out recently. In 2011, I’m creating one of them every month. They are great tools. They are free. What’s not to like? :-)
I’m trying to find other topics that interest you guys and would like to get a little feedback.
New email serviceSince the inception of the blog, I have used Feedburner to handle email and RSS subscriptions. While they do an okay job of it, I’m not quite satisfied with their delivery via email. Plus if I have a really neat idea or something that I’d like to send to subscribers only (as a side benefit of subscribing), then Feedburner does not allow me to do that.
So I’m switching to the monkey.
MailChimp offers me the ability to do those one-off emails to subscribers, plus their delivery is much more secure. It’s going to be a great experience. Why am I telling you? Well, if you want to subscribe, just put your info into the box below or click here if you don’t see a box below. Just an FYI, if you are subscribed via email currently, then I will port over your email and save you the trouble of resubscribing. There might be a post or two where you get double delivery while the services overlap, but I will fix that by week’s end.
If you subscribe via RSS, that service will not change. But you might miss out on some of those bonuses that are subscriber-only in the future. :-)
I’ve done my share of talking here, but I’m curious to know more about you and what you expect from the blog. What topics do you enjoy? What would it thrill you for me to cover?
Subscribers may need to click through to see the video.
Feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email to ben@upstarthr.com to talk privately. Also, if you are interested in me coming to speak to your group (or doing a webinar), reach out to me as well. I’m picking up more of these as time goes on and I really enjoy the opportunities. :-)
I’ve been beating myself up about not posting as frequently here lately, but it’s for good reason(s). Really. Here is the full slate I’ve been working on these days, just in case you are interested. And if I’m slow to respond to an email or a phone call, now you know why!
I’ve been doing some work on HRevolution lately, getting neat stuff posted like speaker interviews and sponsor info. I figure posting here will slow somewhat until May gets here, but I just wanted to set expectations early. :-) By the way, if you want to go there are 8 tickets left at the time this is published. Snag one if you want to attend an event like no other.
People still ask me about my job that I started back in November. The most common question is, “Do you still like your job?” And my answer is a resounding yes(!). I get to do fun stuff and get paid for it. What kind of fun stuff? Well, lately I’ve been working two big recruiting initiatives to bring in helicopter pilots and survival instructors. How cool is that?
When I’m not working on that kind of effort, I’m developing training for managers, handling our benefits, and creating systems and processes to help us prepare for some growth we are planning for later this year.
I have an amazing manager, the culture is fantastic, and the free Diet Dew in the fridge doesn’t hurt. Plus I get to interact with our CEO, Mike Durant, on a regular basis. Hard to get that kind of access to senior leaders in other companies. One of my friends has this offer to come work for another company locally for about $10k more than what I’m making now. I told him if I ever started hating my job I’d be there in a heartbeat, but it doesn’t look promising. :-)
If you aren’t reading RocketHR, you should! I post there about once a week and most of the time it’s new, unique content. Click here to get it delivered to you. A few recent posts include reasons why you should read blogs, the SHRM blog carnival, and a video about really being ethical.
In my spare spare time, I also am the Social Media Director for my local Society for Human Resources Management chapter. Not only do I write the RocketHR blog, but I’ve made myself available to anyone and everyone locally who is looking for information or advice on getting involved with social media. It’s so much fun helping someone make the leap from “interested” to “practitioner.”
If you’ve been following Project:Social for long, you know it’s a social media mentoring program for HR pros. We are in our second round of the program and are looking to get the third one started soon. Some people have asked why Victorio and I haven’t had more people in the program, but as you can see with other things I am working on, it is definitely a challenge to devote time to this and if you don’t have a good experience, then it wasn’t worth it anyway. We are looking at ways to scale the program to have more mentor and mentee pairs working at the same time.
I’m about halfway into my term as the SHRM YP Council Chairman, and it’s been interesting so far. We are creating a guide that will be used to help young professionals get more involved with their local chapters. It also has some great tips and advice for volunteer leaders to help them connect with those individuals. I’m definitely glad that I am in the group!
Don’t know that you specifically care, but I thought I’d offer my house up if anyone’s interested in buying. :-) Seriously, we are looking to move now that we’ve outgrown our little place, and if you’ve ever been through the process, you know how much that process takes out of you. We are also having so much fun watching the girls grow up. They are always doing something new and interesting, and I’m doing what I can to keep up! A few pics: Bree (our little puppy), Bree at dinnertime, Bella taking the car for a spin, and both girls first thing in the morning (FYI-Bella on the right, Bree on the left).
And that’s just to get me started. What is everyone else up to these days?
Think you can offer incentives or rewards long after the fact and it won’t affect the results? Here’s a story I’ve been watching closely that disputes the idea that timing isn’t a major factor in decision making (even for nine year olds).
My wife is a teacher (and a darn good one). One of the things she has done in her classroom is to offer special lunches to students who hit their reading goals. Those special lunches involve me bringing them something from Chick-Fil-A (a Southern delicacy!) on the Friday immediately after they reach their goal.
But it wasn’t always that way.
For the first half of the school year, the agreement was that if the students read their goal amount, then I would bring food at the end of the grading period. That could take up to nine weeks (if the kid’s a fast reader), and that’s like infinity in a child’s eyes. While she had a few kids read their books, most of them did not.
Then, this half of the school year, we’ve done it differently. Instead of waiting until the grading period is over (up to nine weeks), she gives them the reward less than seven days after they meet their goals. This has had a few effects on the process.
I love the process of continuous improvement and how my wife can see something like this changing how the students are engaged in their reading program. Next year she can tweak it a little more and see if those numbers get even higher, but it’s nice to start off with something you know that works.
Thinking about offering rewards or incentives to your workforce? Make sure you don’t ignore the time element. It can help (or hurt) you in more ways than you might imagine.
When I was ten my baseball career went to heck. It was like someone threw a switch between my previously awesome self and my new terrible self.
I couldn’t hit. My throws were off. Neither I, my parents, nor my coach could figure out what the issue was.
Then I found out I needed glasses.
It was like a miracle to be able to see clearly again. When people ask me why I didn’t get glasses sooner I reply that at the time I thought everyone saw that way.
That’s a powerful message in more than one way, so I’ll say it again. I thought everyone saw the same way I did.
Before you assume something about a person, take a moment to reflect. Maybe you see things one way and just can’t understand why someone else doesn’t see as “clearly” as you.
Backgrounds, culture, and other factors can dramatically influence how someone behaves or responds to situations. Be conscious of that. You will be a better leader, employee, and friend for it.
This post isn’t here to make you feel like you’ve done something wrong. I need the reminder just as much as anyone else that we’re all different and that can be a powerful tool if we use it well.