It’s Moving Day for the HR Ringleader
Well, today is a big day for the HR Ringleader blog. It’s moving day.
I started this blog earlier in 2009 not with any expectation other than I wanted to have an outlet for my ideas about Human Resources. I have been reading HR blogs for years and finally decided I had more to say than what would be appropriate in the comment section of another HR blog. With that, I set out to create my own blog.
It took a bit to come up with my brand. I wanted something that would describe how I felt about HR: that it is fun, carefree, risky, mesmerizing, captivating, and unique. There are many characters that an HR professional interacts with. The closest comparison I could make was that it was like a circus. A circus with all the wonderful performers each one independent, but working together to make the show. And, I would be the ringleader….the HR Ringleader.
I slowly gained readers, and I am forever grateful for each one of you. You have made me stretch my ideas and my writing skills. My only wish is to keep providing thought-provoking and fun posts that will keep your interest and gain the interest of others.
I hope you’ll all join me on my new site: http://hrringleader.com. There I will have more freedom with my writing and design.
I ask you to click on the RSS feed there if you’re not already subscribed. If you have me on your blogroll, please update that as well.
Thank you my friends!
Trish- the HR Ringleader
HR- This Isn’t A Fairy Tale
Once upon a time there was a recruiter, Scarlet Riding-Hood Recruiter. This recruiter was the best, most knowledgeable in all the land of IdealCompany. Every day she would make call after call to find the fairest candidate to come be a part of IdealCompany. Then, one magical morning, she found what she thought was the perfect candidate. So, she hired him. His name was Joe Pinocchio.
It wasn’t long until the evil sorcerer, “Competitor”, cast a spell on the employee. Joe Pinocchio began doing terrible things. He made inappropriate comments to his colleagues. He stole office supplies. He even tried to falsify his time sheet. After several eons of bad behavior, HR Prince Charming rode in on his horse and banished the evil employee away. All was perfect again in IdealCompany and everyone worked happily ever after.
Wasn’t that a nice story? Ok, so if you haven’t figured it out, working in HR is not like working in “IdealCompany”. It doesn’t take long working in human resources before you start to accumulate your share of HR horror stories. Some are worse than others, but each one helps you grow into a stronger, more well equipped HR leader. For those of you who are new to the field- hang on to your hats- it’s a wild ride. For those of you who have been in HR for many years, I’m sure you have many stories to tell.
If you want to hear some real HR horror stories, check out episode 15 of the HR Happy Hour. It’s certainly not a show for for the kids- more of a PG13 episode, but well worth your time. Steve Boese and Shauna Moerke led a lively discussion of some of the worst work stories of all time. There were rude ones, crude ones, and downright scary ones.
If you don’t want to hear HR Happy Hour, then I hope you work happily ever after.
I’m thinking of writing more HR Fairy Tales. Hit me in the comments if you have a great HR spin on a childhood story.
HR: The Importance Of Understanding Finance
This morning, I’m excited to be contributing over at Creative Chaos Consultant’s blog. He is putting together a great series about what HR pros really need to know in order to be successful. His posts will explore each area in depth. First up, finance.
Finance should not be the dreaded topic for those of us in human resources. Understanding it is the way to have the ability to contribute more in your HR role.
So, head over to check out his post ‘HR 101- Finance‘, Part One.
Ethical Behavior At Work: What Are Employees Willing To Do?
Spend your career in human resources and you will certainly come across your share of employees who will do whatever they think it takes to get ahead at work. They take one wrong step and dont’ get caught, so they take another. And another. Before you know it, they are climbing the hill of lies to the top and trying not to fall off the edge. 
Lying? Check.
Stealing? Check.
Cheating, belittling, bullying, and avoiding? Check, check, check, check.
What is it about human nature that makes some people follow all the rules and others believe it is alright to break them? We may never have that answer. It may be because the opportunity is there. It may be that they feel dissatisfied with their role so they lie or cheat to get ahead in the company or department. There are a whole host of other reasons. The important thing is to help your employees by recognizing and rewarding the positive behavior they demonstrate in order to move the company forward.
Ethical behavior is the cornerstone of good business. In times of economic instability are there higher incidents of unethical behavior in the workplace? I wonder.
What do you think? Are you finding this to be an issue, or do you think employees are even more “buttoned up” and walking the straight and narrow in order to keep their jobs?
What Would You Do With “The Rationalizer”?
Some Friday fun…
There are so many technologies that HR departments can use to track, measure, monitor, survey, and assist in the employee life cycle. I read about a new technology that isn’t being targeted at employees, but maybe it could be.
Phillips Electronics is making an electronic bracelet called “The Rationalizer“. It’s a bracelet that supposedly measures the emotions of the person wearing it by analyzing their skin responses (sweat). The intent is to have people who buy and sell stock online to wear the bracelet and when they become too emotional, it will let them know so that they do not buy or sell when they are too upset.
I wonder how that would work for employees. Maybe we could hand them out to managers when they were going to have a performance conversation with an employee on their team. They could be given to a group of executives who are going to a budgeting meeting with the CFO. The possibilities are endless.
If you had these bracelets, who would you give them to and why? The funnier, the better…..
Don’t Buy The Datsun B210- Plan For The Future
I read an article recently that said that the Datsun B-210 was voted one of the ugliest cars of all time. Now, just looking at the picture, it would be hard to argue that it is not one of the ugliest cars. I’m not sure why they have it pictured with a train, because it certainly was not faster than a train- not even close. And the color choice? That 1978 burn orange is really attractive, if you’re into pumpkins.
I know it wasn’t the most attractive car of all time. But, it certainly had its good points. My dad actually owned a car just like the one pictured. It was small and had no frills. No air, no power anything. It did come with an AM radio, but that was all. I’m sure he bought it just to get to and from work. He was a plant manager at a zinc refinery so it was definitely not a place you would want to take a nice car. The chemicals from the plant ruined the paint on every car in the lot. The reason I had the pleasure of riding in the car was that my dad thought it would be the perfect fuel-efficient mode of transportation one summer to travel from St. Louis to St. Petersburg Beach, FL. That had to be about the longest, hottest, 21 hours in a car I can say I have ever had. But, it got us to our destination and back home again.
We only kept that car for about two years. Sure, it was practical at the time, but with a growing family it just didn’t make sense. And based on the amount of time spent in the car, my parents realized that they needed a few perks and upgrades.
Really, the car is symbolic of choices each of us make every day. In human resources, are we no different. The economy is bad. Is your company in the market for new HR technology? A new recruiting tool? Do you need help from a consultant? I know the tendency is to shy away from spending. But, that is only good in the short term. If you buy the “practical but cheap” technology, you can bet you’ll be sorry in a year or two. The economy will rebound. Your business will grow. Then, you’ll be back at square one and having to pay much more than if you negotiate today.
Some people will disagree, but I feel strongly about this. Invest NOW in your company. The time is right, the pricing is right. Think about your next five to ten years, not just about today.
What do you think? Is your company keeping spending on hold? Are they spending but buying the practical or cheaper technology? Or, are they visionaries who are taking a little risk and investing in the company’s future? I’d love to hear in the comments.
Whatever, Trisha!
Do you ever have those days where you think you’re doing everything right, but that is not someone else’s opinion? I definitely have those days. Lucky for me, I don’t have someone coming along behind me broadcasting every time I make a choice they would not have made.
I started thinking about this when I saw a bit of the show ‘Whatever, Martha!’ the other night. If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s on FineLiving Channel. It is a show where the hosts, Alexis Stewart (daughter of Martha Stewart) and her friend Jennifer Koppelmann Hutt make fun of old Martha Stewart episodes. They do it in a fun, light-hearted way though, so it really is an amusing show. It’s also quite addicting.
Thank goodness my daughter is too young to make fun of me yet. I only wonder what she’d say. Probably something like, “Oh my! Can you believe my mom likes human resources this much? Get a life Mom- no one cares” or “Look what my mom is wearing! Can you believe she is the one who has to make sure employees are adhering to the dress code. Get a style mom.”
In the meantime, here’s a clip from Whatever, Martha! for you to enjoy.
A Day In The Life Of Lance Haun- Rehaul
As we head into the home stretch leading up to HRevolution, I’m continuing to highlight some of the HR bloggers we all know and love (or should know and love). Today I am fortunate to be able to share an interview with one of my favorite bloggers. He is someone I have looked to for HR guidance because of his approach to the profession. He’s a great writer, a talented business man, and a good friend.
Lance Haun spent several years blogging as “YourHRGuy.com” and just recently updated his blog. You can find him now over at Rehaul. He’s the VP of Outreach at Meritbuilder. He’s also active in social media and you can follow him on twitter (@thelance) or on LinkedIn. So, are you ready to learn more about our blogging friend from Portland? Here’s Lance……
What time do you start your day? Are you a morning person or more of a late-nighter? I am a night person. It is just brutal when you live on the west coast and have people to meet with on the east coast in the morning. I used to be a morning person but that has long since gone.
It’s time to head to work, how do you get there (car, train, bike)? I work from home most days or I’ll go to a Starbucks and pump out some work. I have driven, biked and walked to work at previous jobs.
What is one thing you have to do every day to start your day right? Get dressed. I know that seems funny but when you work from home, it isn’t a necessity. When I worked from home at a previous gig, I started off in pajamas but I just wasn’t in the state of mind. Not that I get very dressed up (for example, today I am wearing a rugby shirt, jeans and flip flops).
Where do you work? How do you provide HR greatness there? I work for MeritBuilder, a company that focuses in on employee engagement and recognition. I push other organizations to be great by recognizing their employees positive contributions to their business on a frequent basis.
What are some of the biggest challenges facing HR professionals in today’s market? Relevance. I’ve talked with quite a few people and the gap between transformative HR practices that are relevant and the same old is becoming huge. Change is tough but it is the only way to become relevant. You don’t see too many marketing execs that are unfamiliar with new technologies yet you still see many in HR in the boat of not knowing what’s coming up.
Answer the question “If I hadn’t ended up in HR, I’d be ____________”. At my dad’s meat shop or my wife’s winery. I love working with a product hands on and having a tangible result of that work. I wish my work had a more physical nature to it.
What is your favorite HR and non-HR reading? I don’t know if this is strictly HR but “Good to Great” by Jim Collins is really fantastic. As for non-HR reading, I typically stay in non-fiction with books about history or travel. How old am I again?
What are your thoughts on how HR professionals should get involved in using technology? It is easy to make excuses. I know non-degreed HR pros past retirement age that know as much as I do about the technology out there so it isn’t a question about age, education or any of that other crap. It is about desire. Do you want to be adopting technology at the same rate as others? If that’s a “Yes”, then go.
Afternoon slump? What do you do to re-energize during the workday? I go for a walk, bike ride or exercise mid day. Coffee can help too but exercise helps more.
It’s quitting time. What is your life like after your day job? If it is nice outside, we’ll usually go hang outdoors at the Oregon coast or in the mountains. When it becomes crappy though, going to Portland Trail Blazer games, finding new beer pubs and wineries is not a bad life.
Bonus Question: What is the best piece of HR or business advice you’ve received? Execute your business with integrity. That’s always the final check on any decision I make.
Thanks to Lance for the interview. There are only a few more before we all meet up at HRevolution. Stay tuned.
Top 10 Reasons To Attend HRevolution
With only three (yes, 3!) weeks until the HRevolution takes Louisville, KY by storm, I thought it would be fun to share the top ten reasons to attend. They are:
10. Because all the cool kids are doing it!
9. You can’t bear the thought of sitting through another boring traditional conference presentation.
8. You’ve never been to Louisville, KY- home of the Kentucky Derby, Maker’s Mark Distillery, and Louisville Slugger factory.
7. You’re tired of just reading blogs and want to start your own but don’t know how.
6. You’ want to get in on the live HR Happy Hour show.
5. You’ve clawed your way out of “cubicle land” and want to talk about the future of HR.
4. You want to see Ben Eubanks of Upstart HR chug a whole 2 liter bottle of Diet Mountain Dew.
3. You’ve never had The Hot Brown and it’s high time you did!
2. Why not? You don’t have anything else planned that weekend.
And the number one reason to attend HRevolution…..
1. You want to learn, share, collaborate, and network with the most innovative people in today’s HR community. Seriously.
Please visit the HRevolution registration site to sign up today. For more information on the un-conference, go to the HRevolution site.
See you in Louisville!!!!
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