Leadership slang time, people. Let’s give you a term you can text your fellow HR/Talent pros in response to hearing that they’re stuck in a time-suck they shouldn’t be in. The term/acronym? NINA. “No Influence, No Authority.” NINA refers to people who really can’t get things done in an organization, and it’s position/situation specific. Consider the following: – Authority is downward sloping. People with …
Feeling Like A Pretender? (The New Leader)
If you get things that you desire, there may be unforeseen and unpleasant consequences. Another way to say that, “Be careful what you wish for,” but Google reminded me that’s also the name of a cheesy Nick Jonas flick (redundant, I know.) Whatevs, the spirit of the comment is the same – anyone striving for advancement in their professional life is …
Failure – A Facilitated Activity
I was recently asked to give a presentation to a group of 100 people about success after failure. It was for an all day event, and I was asked to speak for 30 minutes. The objective was to get folks inspired to rise up after their own moments of failure. I realized that speaking about success after failure for 30 …
Onboarding…Who Cares?
Really, who cares? I suppose many do not. I know many companies do not onboard effectively and seem to keep their doors open. I know many companies that say they onboard, but do an abysmal job at it. They too seem to be still schlepping soap products or selling mattresses or building software regularly. However, if you have a workforce …
Have you traveled on the dark side? Lessons from a Diversified HR/Recruiting Career.
Confession time…I have never been and will never be a 30 year employee. 3 yrs, 5 yrs, 10 yrs…I can hit those milestones. But beyond that, fat chance. My career has been guided by gut and need and not always in that order. Why by gut? Work should be fun. You should love what you do and where you are and …
Was Gladwell Wrong About Outliers? The Latest on Practice and the 10,000 Hour Rule
If you’re a high-end, progressive HR, recruiting or talent pro, you know about the 10,000 hour rule, a research area made popular by the Malcolm Gladwell book Outliers. The seed for the 10,000-hour rule was a 1993 study of violinists and pianists which found that accumulated practice time rose with musical prowess. On average, top-ranked violinists had clocked up 10,000 hours of …
Let’s Be Honest; Most HR “Diversity Programs” Are for White People
I can’t be the only person that has sat in a “diversity meeting” and thought to myself, “who is this for?” As a woman of color, I rarely, if ever felt like the content was for me. But I often felt like the content was about me, namely, how to deal with me. The focus of many diversity presentations that …
A Lesson on Letting Go
Sometimes I learn things from my personal life and can apply that learning to situations I encounter in my work life. Sometimes it’s the other way around. I’ve personally never been able to keep my home life separate from my work life. I’m a continuous learner on both fronts. And I’m just not wired that way. One such lesson that …
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 …
The 5 Qualities Needed to Be a Really Great Manager
I’ve had a lot of jobs so I’ve worked for a lot of different managers — the good, the bad, and the really ugly. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of them, it’s this: it’s rare when you find one that you would really want to work for again. In fact, when I try to count the good …