Employee Appreciation Day is March 4th, but most companies wait until March 3rd to think about recognition. If your business is anything like where I’ve worked, the local HR lady might do a donut run in the morning and call the day a success. (That local HR lady was me. Thank goodness I liked donuts!)…
Yesterday, I wrote about the future of human resources. One reason I’m not worried about HR? The driving forces of human behavior. I’m not just talking about the poor choices that employees make when they think nobody is looking. I’m referring to a whole host of conflict-avoidant behaviors. The tendency to hack your way to…
People ask me about the future of HR. Am I an optimist? Am I a cynic? I think you have to look at the past to understand the future. Business leaders brazenly defrocked HR between 2009-2014 and invested in software, which has largely failed. Meanwhile, a talented cohort of HR professionals became disenfranchised and moved…
Here are 17 truths about working in HR. Create core values like birthdays and puppies. The rest is overrated. Communicate candidly, kindly, without pretension, and directly via text. Fine, okay, use the phone. Avoid email. Never send an email more than five sentences long. Give feedback kindly, with specificity, directly to the person who needs…
I have a childhood friend who endured stage IV lung cancer. Well, endured is not the right word. She was young and healthy. She took care of her body and was physically active. And now she’s gone. Jenny was diagnosed with cancer in March 2015 after experiencing ongoing back pain after a car accident. It…
Many years ago, I worked for a human resources director who told me it was better to be stupid than wrong. If I didn’t know something, I shouldn’t volunteer an opinion. I should admit that I didn’t know the answer rather than risk offering an incorrect piece of advice. Turns out, nobody knows anything during…
There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. No government is going to give you anything for free. What you get for free comes out of the pocket of someone else. That’s entirely appropriate when it comes to defending our shared interests as a nation. Unfortunately, we don’t have many mutual interests. That’s what…
Do you remember a couple of years back when the “hero persona” was all over? “Be a hero and save HR. Be a hero and rescue recruiting. Be a hero and bring some donuts to the meeting.” A few years ago, I attended an executive summit where none of the CHROs wanted to be HR…
Doing anything every day is tough. Just ask your kids. How often do you nag them to brush their teeth and make their beds? And how often have you committed to a daily activity such as exercise or reading only to fail on day two? They say it takes 21 days to build a new…
A few years back, I drove to the Outer Banks of North Carolina (OBX) and attempted to beat writer’s block and generate something interesting. Writing isn’t magic, although it can feel magical. It’s intentional and takes great effort, which is why I didn’t sit around waiting for lightning to strike. In my downtime, I took…
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