A few years ago, I received a crash course in the importance of balancing head with heart when serving employees. As I went about my HR routine, I would engage with a particular employee in polite banter. We commiserated on how we dreamed of retirement, shared a love for southern cooking and travel; and who was serving the best food …
“Mr. Spicoli, What’s Your Reason for Your Truancy?”
“Fast Times at Ridgemont High“. One of the all-time greatest flicks with almost as many life-affirming lines as “The Big Lebowski“. Sean Penn played the iconic Jeff Spicoli, who more than once was late for class, causing Mr. Hand great frustration. Mr. Hand: Mr. Spicoli, what’s your reason for your truancy? Jeff Spicoli: I just couldn’t make it on time. …
How to Say Goodbye (Employee Engagement Never Ends)
How does your company say goodbye? Is it a formalized program? Left to the manager’s discretion? Do you pass the buck to HR and think all is done with an exit interview? I don’t think visiting HR and having a post employment interview is a good-bye. Not for the employee, to them, it’s process. Many times they’re not tight with HR, haven’t …
Confessions of a Serial Work Spouse
“Work spouse” is a phrase, mostly in American English, referring to a co-worker, usually of the opposite gender, with whom one shares a special relationship, having bonds like those of a marriage. I know this phrase is still considered taboo, but let’s be real, we’ve all used it, and maybe have even had a work spouse. In fact, 23% of …
Communicating Through Organizational Change
I recently delivered a presentation to my organization that will have a huge impact on the lives of our team members. I believe that the impact will be a very positive one. Regardless of this, change is change. Which is to say that change is hard. But why? Why is it so hard to have successful organizational change, and how …
It’s Okay for You to Fail
It’s time to discuss improving employee engagement. Or is it employee experience? Who knows anymore? All I know is we continue to work our butts off to find that secret sauce that will ensure employees connect with the company and pledge their eternal soul to you in HR, the department they work in, and the organization as a whole–yet nothing …
Want Employee Engagement? Just Ask.
Employee engagement continues to be a challenge for organizations of all shapes and sizes. The road map to tackling this challenge is right in front of you if you are willing to involve your employees in the solution. But what should you be asking your people to get that answer? What they value, of course. Pretty simple, but nearly impossible …
Are You Useful? The Ultimate Management Question.
I started today’s post with the idea to riff on JTBD (that’s “jobs to be done” for those in Rio Linda), a point of view pioneered by Harvard business professor Clayton Christensen. JTBD is the idea that people don’t buy what you sell–they hire out a job to achieve an objective. Approaching your business in this way opens up additional …
Dispelling HR Police Mythology
It was 5 minutes until 5:00 pm on a Friday. I was at my desk holding court about where the Sales team was going for happy hour when suddenly the “personnel” lady appeared with a figurative summons for me to appear in personnel court along with a fellow Account Executive. “Why,” you ask? Two weeks prior while in Sedona, Arizona …
Key Component To Talent Strategy: A Proper Goodbye
The HR space talks about talent acquisition a lot. How to attract candidates, how to source candidates, how to make the candidate experience exceptional. Just venturing a guess, but perhaps 70%, maybe 80%, of HR technology focuses on these very things. As an HR practitioner, I believe there is something that corporate leaders, managers, HR pros, and recruiters neglect: A …