HR and Slack

About a year ago, many of my clients became sick of email and asked me to join them over on Slack. What is Slack? Well, it’s basically inter-office-email plus AOL instant messenger plus storage for files. You can do emoji, and there are folders called “channels.” So it pretty much feels like email 2.0 to…

I Have No Equal

A couple of months ago, I attended an event where a bunch of HR ladies discussed talent-related topics and drank champagne and rosé. (It’s too bad. I didn’t know that bubbles had jumped the shark.) I jumped the shark a long time ago, and I never say no to free champagne. So I joined the…

Managing Expectations in HR and Beyond

I have a working theory that 92% of an HR leader’s job is managing expectations. People bring their issues to work. Whether it’s a stage-of-life problem or a money problem, nobody ever shows up to a job without their personality quirks. When those irregular characteristics manifest themselves in the form of conflict, HR is often…

Learned Helplessness in HR

There is a weird phenomenon happening in human resources departments around the globe. Far too many people in HR are suffering from learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is a psychological condition that commonly describes victims of abuse and neglect. Those poor souls give up on themselves. They see themselves as perpetual victims — even when they’re…