Simple but Hard

I had the privilege last night of having dinner with one of my mentors.  I always leave these conversations with new perspectives and a lot to think about.  Last night's conversation was not different.

We spend a lot of time in HR yearning for credibility and relevance within our organization.  Often, that leads us to over reach and sometimes to make things more complex than they need to be.  In my experience, elevating HR within your organization is about knowing the answer to two questions for everything you do:

• What problem are you trying to solve?
• How does the way you are solving that problem add value to the business?  

It's as simple as answering two questions?  Simple yes, easy no.  These questions are important and you will be surprised by how many times you find that you don't have the answer for much of what you do today.  Getting to the answers to these questions is more challenging than what you expect.  But it's worth the effort.  

Okay, I lied a little.  It's not just knowing the answer to these questions.  There's one more step.  If you can't come to an answer for the second question that the CEO would care about, you need to do something different to solve that particular problem.  Alternatively, it could be that the problem you've identified isn't worth solving.  

Keep it simple.  

Loyalty or Engagement?

When we think about what an ideal employee population would look like within an organization, the words loyal and engaged would probably be amongst the adjectives you'd chose to describe them.  But, what if you had to chose just one of the two?  Which is most important?

I suspect that if you surveyed many business leaders and CEO's, they might say that loyalty is most important.  Afterall, we invest a lot in people and we want them to stick around.  A loyal employee probably won't even flirt with another opportunity or dream about leaving.  You can count on them because they never plan on leaving.  Loyalty is comforting when you are the leader.  

Engagement on the other hand means that the employees probably love what they are doing and they are excited to do it.  They are giving the company more than asked for because they are all in with the work they are doing.  Engaged employees are fun to work with because they create energy through their relationship with their work.  But, there is engaging work to do in many places so they may be open to other opportunities from the first day they joined your organization.  

Which is better?  Engagement might out perform loyalty in the short-run, but that employee might leave you at any time if a better, more engaging opportunity comes along.  Loyalty buys you effort over the long haul, but might that loyalty turn into complacency over time?  Could loyalty mean staying longer than is healthy? 

Of course, the ideal answer is both.  But, that may not be practical.  Which will it be for you?  

Barriers to Innovation (Guest Post)

Today's post is a guest post written by Kevin Eikenberry.  I'm posting it for a couple of reasons.  First, I like the topic of innovation and I enjoyed Kevin's take on it.  Second, Kevin is launching a new book today titled From Bud to Boss and I'm posting this as part of their launch "buzz" to make people aware of their new book.  The book is designed as an all in one resource for newly promoted managers to give them a solid foundation of management and leadership skills. I like the book and will likely use it within my own organization.  To celebrate the launch, they have gathered some terrific gifts from partners. To find out about the gifts, please visit http://www.frombudtoboss.com.

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This has happened to you.

You (or your team) have identified a problem and generated some great ideas to solve it. Or perhaps there isn’t a “problem” but a great idea arrives for a new product, service or approach.

Either way the idea, no matter how exciting, is nearly worthless unless action is taken to turn it into reality.

This process of moving something from idea to reality is usually called innovation. And if you have ever been down this road you know that barriers, resistance, excuses and whining can occur on the innovation journey.

That resistance and whining can stall progress and sap the energy that the initial idea created; leaving the innovation lifeless, powerless and all too often incomplete.

Before going any further, understand the underlying principle at play here – innovation is another word for change.

This fact implies there will be reluctance and resistance by some, simply because when you innovate you are, by definition, doing something new. Therefore, things will change.

Now that you know you’re dealing with change, it hopefully will be easier to recognize the common barriers that act as the brakes to any idea implementation process (i.e. innovation or change).

What are some of the barriers? I’m glad you asked.

Here are five in the form of the comments, complaints and whining you might hear.

What’s the big deal, what we have works! Comments like this show you that people don’t see a compelling reason to change. In this case you may be so caught up in the idea itself, or have been working on it so long, that the reasons for the innovation seem obvious to you. When you hear comments like this, it is time to back up and help people see why the innovation (change) is necessary or valuable.

Customers aren’t complaining – they love us! There are (at least) two problems with this logic. First, Customers often don’t complain, they just leave. And second, sometimes they don’t know to ask for something better, until it appears. I mean, did customers know they wanted a laptop, a DVD player or an automobile before that innovation arrived? Your innovation may not be a game-changer like those examples, but the fact remains. If you wait solely for signals from your Customers, it may be too late.

What if this idea fails? The truth is it might. And it is best to acknowledge that fact right up front. However, you want to enlist people’s help immediately in doing all that can be done to assure that the new idea doesn’t fail. As a leader help people focus on the positive result while realistically dealing with every possible option for reducing the chances of failure.

Maybe we need to do something, but not that! Comments like this can be clues to two possible thoughts. First, the one that is actually being stated – this is the wrong approach. If this is the real concern, engage them in the process. If it is early in the implementation, perhaps their ideas can be re-considered and/or integrated. If the process is further along, you can still listen to their concerns. At some point (early or late in the process) you may have to “agree to disagree” on the approach, but ask them to focus on the reasons for the change and ask for their overall support. Second, of course, comments like this could also be meant to camouflage the real feeling that there is nothing wrong with status quo.

It isn’t worth the effort. On a bad day, you might think this is a lazy comment; on a good day, just assume someone is stuck in a routine. Either way, this is a clue that someone just doesn’t want to put forth the effort required to change or innovate. If this is the case, you must help them see the bigger picture, the why or justification for the innovation. At a minimum, help them understand what is really expected of them in the change (which is probably less than they assume it to be).

There clearly are other potential barriers or sources of resistance to any change or innovation. And while the solutions may be longer and more complex than offered here, what is here is a great start.

It’s important to note that when you are working through an innovation you have initiated, the situation may be even more frustrating. Remember to not take these comments or barriers personally. And recognize that being overwhelmed by these forces will work against the excitement, promise and positive energy that you (and others) feel about the innovation.

Finally, remember that these statements (and those like them) contain at least as much emotion as fact. You have the opportunity to use that emotion in a positive way to turn those barriers into acceptance; those whines into winning innovation.

Potential Pointer: Since innovation is a form of change, barriers and resistance will predictably surface when ideas are being transformed into action. Remarkable leaders recognize the inevitability of these barriers and work to proactively reduce them

Twitter and HR Leadership

Last Friday, I helped to facilitate a social media "boot camp" for HR leaders in our area.  When we hosted the HR Reinvention Experiment last fall, one topic that seemed to be of paramount interest to that crowd was social media.  It seemed that most HR leaders are getting the message that they should know about and be leveraging social media, but they weren't sure where to start.  That's where Friday's session came in.

I wanted to share a few observations from the session and then a few thoughts about how to start if you are an HR leader (or likely know one) who needs to get caught up with the times in regards to social media.  The first thing that jumped out from the group we had on Friday is at nearly everyone seemed to have some sort of awareness of and was using LinkedIn and Facebook.  Where this group seemed to be stuck was with Twitter and anything else beyond that.  We didn't spend much time on LinkedIn or Facebook, but I'm guessing that while many said they were users, there is a difference between having a basic profile without a picture or much info versus actually leveraging these sites for the powers of good.  But, that's just an assumption.

As for Twitter, everyone seemed sort of captivated by it but not many had done too much with it.  We heard all of the usual comments and resistance ("I don't care what you  had for breakfast this morning, so why would I want to read about it on Twitter?")  I think by the end of the time we spent together, most of the attendees were much more informed about Twitter and why they might want to get involved.  I think that some of them might even go out and get started.  We'll wait and see.  For now, I want to share a few of the key things that were discussed or observed in the session.

1. Twitter (and all other social media tools) isn't something you do, it is something you use to accomplish things.  They are tools.  If you are trying to get on Twitter just to be on Twitter, you will probably not get much from the experience.  You have to know why you are using these tools to reap the benefits.
2. Twitter is hard for HR because there aren't really any rules and the rules change often.  You have to let go of needing to understand the rules before you start or you'll never start.  If you are new to Twitter, google the phrase "How to Twitter" and you'll get all the info you need to get started.  Then, just jump in.  (It was amazing to me how many people were stuck by not knowing how to "do" Twitter when there is so many free guides out there to help you make sense of it).  
3. You have to use social media to understand it.  Our organizations are trying to make sense of social media and what we should be doing with it.  If you, as an HR leader, aren't leading that discussion, shame on you.   To do that requires that you understand what social media is and why people us it.  To understand that, you have to use it.  Period.  There is no short cut.  
4. Twitter is like a radio station.  The people you follow are like the artists who create music for radio.  You add people who create the stuff you like and not those who don't.  Once you have a nice station created with enough good artists, you can listen when you want to.  You can drop in and out of Twitter whenever it works for you.  Just like the radio, if you follow enough people (probably need at least 300) there will always be something interesting on when you tune in.
5. Be a little selfish at first.  Start out using social media for your own good.  There is no better and more interactive personal development tool out there than social media.  You have access to world class content and experts any time you need them.  You can build a vibrant network of brilliant colleagues around the globe.  All from the cozy seat right in front of your computer.
6. As for the organization, don't start by trying to solve social media for everyone.  Instead, get social media access opened up for your HR team and then experiment with it.  Once you have a few good stories to tell of how you used social media to create some value, use that to make progress organizationally. 
7. When you are getting started on Twitter as an HR pro, here's the first quick steps to follow:
• Create your profile (use your full name for your username (i.e. JasonLauritsen vs. HRInstigator) and upload a picture. Using your full name and picture helps you build relationships more easily, lets people recognize you more quickly, and it builds your personal brand.  In your description in your profile, write something about being in HR, Training, etc.  That helps people know what kind of Twitterer you might be.  
• Unprotect your tweets.  Social media is a wide open enterprise.  You have to be willing to let go of who sees your stuff to be taken seriously and embraced.  You want people you don't know to see your stuff and follow you.  That's how Twitter works.
• Create a few tweets.  Examples might be "Okay Twitter, I signed up.  Now what?"  or "Hey, I'm new here.  Where's the cafeteria?"  Your first tweets should tell the world that you are new and that you are going to try to learn on the fly as you go. 
• Now, go find some people to follow.  Assuming you are using Twitter for mainly professional reasons (most of my comments here are geared that way), you can easily find a good list of people to follow.  Simply google the phrase "human resources twitter list."  This will produce a series of lists that others have created of some of the best HR folks to follow on twitter.  If you don't know how to follow someone, refer back to item 1 above.  
• Finally, try to create a tweet or two per day for a while.  That will help you build up your twitter stream.  At first, the easiest way to accomplish this will be to retweet the content that you like.  If you devote 10-20 minutes per day to Twitter for a month, by the end of the month you will be hooked.  

Twitter is only a mystery until you start using it.  Good luck out there.  Let me know if I can help.

Rules of Thumb

As my thirteen-year-old son prepared for his basketball game this past weekend, I asked if he was ready to play.  He said, "I'm going to take my anger out on the game."  You see, he has become a die hard Duke basketball fan like I am and our beloved Blue Devils had just been taken behind the woodshed by a very determined St. John's team.  It was a brutal loss and my son was mad about it.  I looked at him and said something to the effect, "If you go out there angry, you'll make stupid mistakes.  Getting angry means getting stupid.  What part of that do you have control over?"  Her replied, "I shouldn't get angry."  Bingo.  We proceeded to have a chat about how letting our emotions get the best of us prevents us from being our best.  He was able to calm himself and play a good game.  

As I thought about this exchange, it reminded me of the power and wonder of these "rules of thumb" that we use to remember some of the most important lessons of our lives.  

Here is my list of my top Rules of Thumb:

1. Get angry, get stupid. 
2. You can't control what happens to you.  You can't control how others respond to what happens.  The only think we really control is how we react to what happens to us.
3. You teach people how to treat you.  
4. When Momma's happy, everybody's happy.  (And the corollary: Happy wife, happy life.)  
5. Better to be lucky than smart most days.  
6. If it hasn't been done yet, that's probably just because no one has had the guts to try.  
7. One person with an idea is a dreamer.  Two people sharing an idea is a movement.  
8. Leadership isn't about you, it's about them. 
9. Persistence is a virtue.

Some of these might only make sense to me, but they all hold pretty powerful lessons.  

What are your best "Rules of Thumb?"