Benjamin Huges
Customer Focus – Do you know who your customer is?
The main issue within the traditional approach to Human Resources and Training is that we treat our customers in a transactional way. When asked to deliver, we deliver and then we are often done. It is on to the next person or program. What is given is often not what should be delivered but what people strong arm you into delivering. This approach has no long term value. Often it is seen as a short term fix.
How we treat others that interact with our role, how we deliver our product (and we do have a product and a service), and the “how” we deliver is just as important to our internal customers as it is with the talent and customers you deal with outside of the organization. Yes, you deal with benefits, compensation, talent management, RPO’s, executive and organizational strategy, Dodd Frank, etc, etc… but if you do not understand what you have to offer to a customer and what that customer has as a particular expectation, then you will often never meet the need nor their expectations.
We all have a customer. You just have to realize and understand who that customer is.
Appreciation – The Best Policy
I have been M.I.A over the last few weeks. For good reason. Over the last few months, my main focus at work has been in part a Leadership Development Program for four groups of individuals, a mentoring program, creating and benchmarking overall Learning and Organizational metrics and performance measures, as well as long term succession planning around a core group of Executive high potentials.
All this has caused a high influx of busy… busy… busy in my life. However, I can honestly say it has been great. Last week was the first physical session of one core group of the leadership team. A?lot of nerves, time and planning went into it.
As anyone who plans, leads and facilitates any training session can tell you – the process can be exhausting. It can even be more exhausting when you are dealing with your fellow colleagues.?It may be?taxing on your own confidence in the job you do?as well as?on the unrealized and unsaid expectations of anyone involved. Expectations are a tricky thing. They are not measurable. Nor are they easily defined. The core function and objectives that are needed for a group to succeed are not exactly what match what they hope to receive.
Over the course of the?three day session I?never?knew how well it was going or how bad it could have been. I think that is a consistent feeling. You want the best but prepare for the unimaginable. So as the second day began to end it was great to hear good remarks, unexpected praise as well as receive emails from the CEO saying how he heard how well it was going!
Training New Year Resolution for HR: Don’t Tell Me Show Me!
This post was originally written on December 31st, 2009. I think it is just as true today. As more companies are beginning to hire and develop talent for succession planning and w
orkforce development, it is important that those leading the training(s) make it usable and actionable for their participants.
As we go into the new year, everyone will have Resolutions. I want to lose weight, I need a better job, I will, I won’t, I want. There are others that will want to advance their own skills and knowledge by attending new training, seminars and classes. This is great. But what if you attend one that doesn’t do any of those things.
The Scenario: You are ready to learn. You register for a seminar that you are ready and willing to engage in and actually help you to DO something new and different. You arrive at the seminar/class and they discuss a topic at a high level. All well and good but you have no previous knowledge of the topic or process and your entire purpose of attending was to learn something and possibly take a few templates, ideas and actions away from it. Mind you they never really break down what works, any new approaches and/or possible step by steps on how to do it better.
Watered Down Rewards and Recognition
A Bank and an Agent
I was in a local bank recently. I walked in to deposit a check… because somehow doing so inside a bank somehow registers the deposit more quickly then it does when I send it through an ATM (and I like getting my money quick with no mistakes). As the agent at the front kiosk was completing my transaction and registering it into my account, I noticed a certificate on his desk. The wording on the certificate looked something like this:
This certificate is presented to BLAH Blah BLAHHH
for reaching the highest level of service to our customers…
In recognition of your high level of service blah blah bank rewards you with…
“Now that is pretty cool.” I thought. “Not only do they get a little certificate of recognition but the customers get to see what they received.” Hell, it even said “High Level.” I thought it was cool until I happened to look over and see the same certificate with a different name. The next agent had it. Then I saw another, until I noticed that pretty much all of the front windows had them.
Mind you, my agent did not provide bad service, but I don’t think that he or the rest of the agents particularly looked as if they were hell bent on providing me with this elusive “high level” of customer service in which the certificate spoke of. Maybe their unhappy and melancholy faces were a result of the end of the work day or maybe it was something else.
Compensation, Pay Raises and Becoming a CEO
Treatment versus Perception
I got sucked into a conversation. It was around an associates belief that ‘companies’ don’t treat people well. This kind of made me think and wonder. Wonder because it came out of the blue. It also made me wonder because it was such a broad and sweeping statement with no real specifics. Being a representative of OE and HR I treaded lightly. I swallowed and asked “Why do you feel that way?” Fearfully waiting for the answer and trying not to rebut or question their response.
The Statement
“I haven’t received a raise in over 3 yrs.” They started to go on a little deeper into the subject. Knowing we were in public and others could view the conversation differently I made the comment “Let’s get into the details a little later.” Another person came in and said, “Only 3 in 8 years… and why am I still there…?”
Culture and Branding: Creating a New DNA for HR
Brand and Culture are, what I would call, “the new sexy” for companies. Really the “new sexy” for anyone in Human Resources. These words… “brand’ and ‘culture’ have become terms that HR has either scathed and embraced.
I was asked to speak at the Cincinnati Regional Chamber of Commerce. It is being held today, Tuesday October 19, 2010. As a part of their HYPE Talent Symposium I will be speaking on the topic of “Brand versus Culture: Creating the new DNA of Human Resources”
I will be touching on the following points:
- Definition: Brand and Culture
- What these terms mean, for a Company and HR, in Talent Management
Employees only have so much power
Power, Delegation, Engagement, …
…call it whatever you like; but when executives, leaders and managers talk about employee empowerment it is often with a misguided sense of understanding. It is very easy to say that: Read the rest of this entry »
The problem with R.O.I? It’s often M.I.A.
HR Is No Different Then Marketing!
Like Marketing, Communications, PR, Sales and any other part of a business or initiative… we are always trying to figure the R.O.I! Executives and line managers are constantly asking for how you plan on measuring and showing it. Many times they ask you
“So What”s the ROI” or “How are you going to measure this?”
I am often asked with the person on the other end having know idea themselves what or how to measure?
When You Have No Idea What You Want To Measure
When people do not know what should be accomplished, R.O.I. is often M.I.A. This is especially true when people don’t know what they want, understand how the end result should look, or are clueless on what to measure for success.
Outside of cost and sales over time, the metrics and results we try to pinpoint for R.O.I. are often hard to do. It doesn’t matter what field you are in. R.O.I. is a term that is nice to hear but often very hard to prove!
Vacation should be exactly that! A Vacation
I was out of town for the labor day holiday weekend. I didn’t think about work… much. Stayed away from my social media back channels with the exception of celebrating the places I had been or asking for advice on where to go. No one called me from the office. Just sat and watched TV. Hung out with my family and had a few nights out. It was good. My statistics went down. My page clicks were not as high. But you know what… life went on!
It should not be a surprise that I am someone who enjoys what he does. It should not be a surprise that I equally enjoy the breaks that I take from those things I enjoy doing. There are times that I like being away from my profession. There are also personal times in which I would rather not get away.
I talk about these in previous posts: “I Got a Job so now what?” – What you do before you start your new job!, Vacation How To: 7 ways to NOT Work on your vacation, The worst communicated policy: Bereavement Policy and Vacation How To: Make a Sand Pillow. These all have the main point of being able to get away from work, regardless of the reasoning.
The worst communicated policy: Bereavement Policy
In 1999 I was working for a financial services company. I had a boss that, at the beginning of my tenure I believed was great. Many of my co-workers had warned me not to get too comfortable and be careful. “When you least expect it, she will show her true colors.”
I just went a long with work. Fast forward to 2000. I was starting to hate my job. I am a pretty positive person and don’t try to let too many things get me down. And while I did not want to fall into the trap of what my co-workers had been saying, the negative atmosphere my boss was creating was not making it any easier. Basically I was in a tough place.
But this is about something else
This is not about my boss. This is more about a policy. So fast forward to December 2000. I had used up much of my vacation by the end of the year but I still had 2 days left in my vacation bank. I had planned on taking more of a long weekend rather then a full week vacation anyway so I wasn’t down about not having more vacation. I would straddle a holiday, taking that Friday off and leaving a little early on a Thursday. No big deal.
It’s a little more serious then it seems
The vacation wasn’t a big deal but me getting home was. See most of my vacation I typically save for the end of the year. But the week before my mom was admitted into the hospital as a result of heart complications resulting from years of problems with arthritus, diabetes and heart problems. So the week before I took a few days to go back home and spent some time with her. I could not stay… mainly because I had to be back to work. But I vowed I would be back the next to spend more time with her until she got better. The weekend I was going back was between Christmas and New Years.
Perception: Why can’t HR make an impact?
For some reason, I have been up later and later. Not being able to get to sleep. Not for the wrong reasons. Not for worries or issues with the day. Not problems with work, contracts or developing ideas. I have been up late lately simply because my mind has been filled with ideas. A few of those ideas are about HR (I know, I am a dork). Been spending a lot of time thinking of solutions to issues that we create ourselves and differentiating them from what the environmental barriers are presented for us to face and conquer.
The topic on my mind now is “Why can HR not be considered as important as Marketing, Sales and/or Operations?” These are areas that have been traditionally looked at as revenue generators for the business. While HR helps in, what I call, the 3 D’s – Direction, Delivery and Development of talent and business strategies; the business does not give the function as much weight as the others. Why even ask the question. This is a big question. It is a question that should be asked and followed with steps and actions put in place to address, improve and change the typical business perception.
You’re title is ‘BOSS’ not ‘JERK’
Are you the jerk boss in the office?
You may be a boss or even senior to many employees. However this does not mean that you own anyone.
It also doesn’t give you license to be an A#$H@(*. You are a manager for a reason. That reason does not include:
- being intimidating
- the right to be power hungry
- being a micro-manager to everyone
- taking credit for other peoples success
- making people do more work then is needed
- playing favorites
- telling inappropriate jokes
- creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation
- hiring people you like versus those that are better suited to perform at the job
- being a jerk
You set an example
Would you wear the same pair of pants for the rest of your life?
Same pants… for the rest of your life!
Scenerio:
Hiring Manager: “So what do you want to do”
Candidate: “I’d like to do XYZ but I would also be interested in working later on in ABC!”
Hiring Manager: “Well I think you could really do well doing GHI so you’re hired! Congrats… Hear is your uniform, this is what you will wear for the rest of your career!”
Candidate: “The rest of my career?”
Hiring Manager: “Yes, the rest of your career”
Candidate: **sad and dissapointed look on face**
Is this what you want when you choose a job, a company or an industry? Is this how you treat the people you hire or source for a position?
Keep the Performance Review, Trash the Bad Manager
For years there have been arguments for and against the performance review. There are many who diss the process, wanting to get rid of the actual review itself. There are others who feel it is a bedrock of information for both employee development, self checks, collecting historical data on the employee and as a way to evaluate the way a manager simply manages.
The performance review can be bad but it can also be great.
Idiots lay blame solely on a tool
if you lay blame on a tool, then that is what you are! There are valid reasons to blame your legacy system or the vendor platform you use to manage the reporting of performance. If you are an organization that can’t fork over the cash for a huge system, you may have problems with the process of implementing and getting the reviews turned in. But those who simply blame the tool or process are idiots.
It is my belief that if you had managers that were competent enough to do the job they were given, saw examples from their previous bosses, had recieved training, practice and the ability to manage their employees effectively (not just the person but also their development and performance), then you would not need the systems and deep processes. Those who blame tools are blaming band-aids for an injury rather than understanding why the injury is there in the first place.
By Each Whisper: Gauging company culture by walking through the halls
How many times have you been visiting another office or walking with a colleague down the hall and walked past a few people talking. Not even really talking but having quiet conversations with deliberate low tones and whispers. Two people talking in an inconspicuous dark corner.
I don’t know about you but when I walk by people who are interacting like this I get the sense they are talking about their manager. Maybe the company. How Sue or Dave is getting away with murder or how the company doesn’t do right by XYZ (I am self-conscious so many times I even think they are talking badly about me… go figure).
Have you noticed their body language? The change in the way they look as if they are hiding whatever it is being said. Do you notice how they may go silent or stop when you or anyone else in the same department walks by?
With the job market, business and employee disatisfaction being what it is, I think you may notice more and more of this. I believe that the more whispers and conversations held within and outside of the office halls is evidence of the culture of an organization.
The more you see closed conversations between tight nit groups; people huddling so no one else can hear them, these actions can show just how open, closed or collaborative your culture truly is or is not.
