Following Happiness: 60% Of The Time, It Works Every Time

August 18, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging as a HR Guy, Finding Your Job · Comment 

Brian Fantana: They’ve done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time.
Ron Burgundy: That doesn’t make sense.

Anchorman (2004)

Last week, I was lucky enough to sit in on a conference call with Penelope Trunk. She was putting it on for members of Brazen Careerist (Gen Y career-ish oriented blogs) and I was extremely impressed with the overall call. Many people have a visceral reaction to Penelope (if you read through her comment sections, you’ll begin to understand) but despite my disagreements, it always seemed like she was interested in contributing to the overall careers discussion in a positive way. The hour long conference call solidified my feelings on this.

Some of the people on the call talked about some of the difficulties they faced in maintaining their blog or understanding the limit between what should be written about and what should be left behind. There was also an in depth discussion on what should be written about as far as interesting content. It was definitely relatable because I felt those same issues when I started blogging.

One of the things I took away from the call (that wasn’t mentioned but lit up in my head) was the fact that people should write about things that they are good at writing about in order to be successful bloggers. Anybody can write about things in a way that makes them happy. It is a low standard to hit. My first adventure into blogging involved a LiveJournal account that was full of emo lyrics and poorly thought out political stances. This sort of blogging made me happy but nobody cared what I wrote. It wasn’t well executed and writing about things in a way that made me happy turned my blogging into an unfocused disaster.

When you write about things that you are good at writing about (that’s a mouthful), you can hone your skills and actually become successful as a writer. Of course, being successful (usually) makes people happy and that’s what most people want.

Of course, I couldn’t help relating it back to careers. People often pursue (or desire pursuing) the thing in life that makes them happy. They often assume that what makes them happy makes for a good career. That seems entirely unreliable to me. My dad likes working on his 1950 Chevy but he wouldn’t like it as a career (and that would make him unhappy). Doing something you do well is a more reliable way to ensure happiness. It utilizes your strengths and it builds pride in yourself. And to me, that is much more important than following happiness.

Follow success and happiness will follow you.

Tags:

Let’s All Hold Hands and Sing Kumbaya

August 12, 2008 · Filed Under Learning and Living · 8 Comments 

My first exposure to any sort of serious form of diversity training started at the university I went to. I was on a university diversity committee, somehow suckered into the role by my boss at the time. I walked into the room and, not surprisingly, nobody looked like me. I remembered how miserable I was because it obviously lacked effectiveness and it took up quite a bit of time. Imagine going to a two hour meeting and feeling like you went in the opposite direction of where you should have gone every time? That was every one of these meetings.

In these meetings, we talked about fostering understanding, creating an environment free of hate or celebrating our different cultures. We talked about getting speakers, free concerts, movie nights, or [insert any event where we offered free food to poor students]. Everybody patted each other on the back at the end and said great job so I didn’t have the heart (or the guts) to tell everyone that we didn’t accomplish much.

It was one of those moments where I promised myself “Never again.” It was also a moment where I saw HR could be a big factor in actually fixing some of the things that hurt diversity. And I wasn’t going to do it through holding worthless meetings.

Fostering understanding, creating an environment free of hate or celebrating our different cultures is important. It is also a band-aid, an oversimplified solution for a serious problem and completely ineffective. Imagine if female employees were angry about differences in pay. So you go on a retreat, talk about people’s feeling and end the camp by everyone holding hands and singing kumbaya. Great retreat, right?

Wrong. Failure. Utter failure.

You go back to work Monday morning and female employees are still being paid differently. Nothing has been resolved. People may understand the issues but they don’t fix it.

Having an understanding about different cultures and promoting a hate-free environment may feel good but it doesn’t fix anything. Actions fix things. Actions are more important (but more difficult).

So while you are patting yourselves on the back in your diversity committee meetings this month, ask yourself what have you done lately? Have your actions resulted in less of a need for a diversity committee? The main goal of diversity committees should be eliminating the need for a diversity committee right? Really great employers have relieved many of the institutional barriers that hold back people from succeeding.

How far along are you in eliminating your diversity committee?

Tags:

If Gen Y Gets Their Way, Training Goes The Way of the 8 Track

August 7, 2008 · Filed Under Learning and Living · 6 Comments 

So you always hear about how one generation is better than another or one generation is stupid and one isn’t. This sniping goes on and on and I have often been a gleeful participant. I’ll admit it, I have fun making fun of Gen Y and their haters.

Very rarely do these sorts of posts go into the real business consequences of some of these ideas being proposed by the consistently optimistic Generation Y. I want to not only tackle a business issue but also an HR specific issue: company sponsored training.

Now we’ve heard all the great things about being mobile. You can move more easily, you build transferable skills, you can change entire careers in a blink of an eye and you can have control of your career. All positives, right?

Let’s also assume that we live in reality: college education doesn’t adequately prepare most people for their job. We can say that many other people aren’t even following their degree into a corresponding position. So where are people learning these transferable, mobile skills? On the job, at some company sponsored training (internal or external) or on their own time.

In the mobile world of job hopping hoping though, don’t expect those first two to be around much longer. If you want to move around to five jobs in two years, you’re going to be paying for any of your training in the near future.

Does that seem rash? Yes but it is a response to a reality. Say goodbye to that entry level position with upward advancement. Unless the training is incredibly superficial, employers will want mercinary employees to have the skills necessary to perform the job today. Struggling internal development and promotion programs will be seeing more of their budget going into recruiting as the cost of turnover is fully realized.

That seems a little unfair: how will I be able to advance without getting real experience and increase in responsibilities if I am not going to learn any new skills or be afforded any training? You’ll figure out a way  optimistic Gen Y’er!

Why would companies do that? Simple math. If they consider putting you through a $5,000 training program or OTJ rotation schedule, that’s rolling the dice on you staying long enough for them to make up that cost. If an entire workforce is making them roll the dice though, wouldn’t it make more sense for them to invest the money of that costly program into recruiting and retention of people that already have the skills? I’d have a really hard time justifying anything other than a surface level training if my workforce had high turnover because of the desire for your workers to be mobile.

If I put an employee through an expensive training and licensing program, I want them to stay with us for a year so that we can at least reap the reward and make our cost back. But if we have workforce comprised of people that will bolt after six to eight months, it doesn’t make sense. A two million dollar training budget looks much more attractive being split into recruiting and compensation if that is the workforce’s actions.

So are you comfortable being 100% responsible for your training? If you aren’t yet, you should probably get used to it and quick. It seems as though more and more organizations are shuffling away from it or putting terms in the education reimbursement that is going to make it more and more difficult for employees who wish to move around to get the free ride from the employer that was customary.

Tags:

Is it Harder to Blog Non-Anonymously in HR?

August 3, 2008 · Filed Under Blogging as a HR Guy · 5 Comments 

As you may have heard, HR Wench is out of the anonymous closet. She’s a fellow Portlander so I’ve been encouraging her to reveal herself but for slightly selfish reasons. But for every anonymous HR person revealing their true identity, there are probably three more starting blogs under the shroud of secrecy. Why does this happen?

I guess it is more of a rhetorical question. I know why HR people start blogs anonymously. I was one of those people so I understand the thinking behind it. It is very simple from where I was:

  1. I am a bit paranoid. I don’t want my bosses or my employees to read about this but my wife is tired of hearing me talk about HR stuff. I’ll do it anonymously.
  2. Writing anonymously gives me more freedom to write as I please including making fun of co-workers or even my boss. Woohoo!
  3. I am a representative for my company so I speak for them. My blog will be boring if I have to limit myself to stuff the company approves.
  4. If I blog openly, it could open all kinds of legal traps. Perhaps I say I am against so and so act and then an issue comes up at work and they find my blog. So much for any good faith effort claim!

And so on. There are probably a million different little reasons to blog anonymously as an HR pro. To me, there is one good reason to blog openly with your name:

Your message is about you (not your company) and if the message is about you, then the only way you can be authentic is to blog under your name.

To me, authenticity was important. It was putting my name behind my words and that was important enough for me to take the leap. Not to say that putting your name on your blog gives you instant authenticity (it doesn’t) but it does give you that potential.  And there are some terrific anonymous HR bloggers out there but people will always wonder who is that person behind the web page?

Some people may also dispute that a blog is about you. They are wrong. You may not be the topic but the blog is about what you think about those topics, how you react to different topics, how you interact with commenters, etc… The blog is YOU. Topic may vary.

But for HR people, it is a difficult decision and I struggled with it as well. I think it hinged on the fact that my employees/boss would be trying to read into it or that outsiders would try to read into what my company was doing. HR is not PR though and we (should be) as active as any other department in making sure that company is going in the right direction and be able to have open conversations. I put three rules in my head that made blogging as an open HR person easy:

  1. Nobody at work would be surprised at my blog entries. This required me to be open with my superiors and employees about what I was thinking. It brought a new level of accountability to the table. So when we discuss an issue at a meeting and they see that I blog about a similar issue, they don’t see something contradictory.
  2. Nobody comes to my blog for breaking news. At least about layoffs or other HR related things. While you might find me talking about a product or something cool we are doing, working on staffing plans is part of my job and people should be channeling official sources for that sort of information. I don’t do spin well so I won’t try on my blog.
  3. Don’t use negative examples from work. This is obviously political but I think it is necessary. Nobody should be the “Bob” in a bad supervisor example. If they can identify themselves from your example, you shouldn’t use it. Most of the bad stories in my blog come from other people who e-mail me or talk to me about their work.

I am all for HR bloggers making themselves known and I am happy to talk about my experience in even greater detail of going from anonymous to open.

Tags:

  • About

    Your HR Guy is a Human Resources Generalist practicing in the field. But don't let that fool you, this isn't a boring blog. I seek relevance and humor in a place we will spend much of our lives. Everything from workplace issues, job seeking and terrible bosses. Read more...

    View Lance Haun [lancehaun@gmail.com]'s profile on LinkedIn



    Featured on:




    Rate this Blog at Blogged

    Alltop, confirmation that I kick ass

  • RSS HRM Today

    • Why Your HR Department Needs a Blog
      The rules have changed and blogging is not just for geeks with a knack for writing anymore. Employees who want to smear you, recruiters who don’t want to hire you, PR Departments who want to snow you - are all blogging; is HR missing the train? As an HR Professional and a blogger [...]
      Totally Consumed
    • Is Luck a Reality That Should Be Acknowledged?
      On his blog, Seth Godin responded to a reader who believes luck and randomness is just as critical to success as hard work and effort. Seth says: “Without a doubt, luck is involved. I don’t think anyone would tell you otherwise. The choice one needs to make, though is this: either you believe that luck is [...]
      Alexandra Levit
    • What Happens if Brian Leaves? The Key Employee Problem.
      Brian is great at what he does. Brian is your controller—he manages all of the accounting for your small business. He keeps all of the company’s expenses properly documented, finds all of the tax deductions, manages payroll, pays all the bills, negotiates for better rates on the company’s health plans, and keeps a sharp eye [...]
      Working Smarter
    • The Big Challenge of Small Talk
      It’s an inevitable and sometimes uncomfortable situation.  You’re in a meeting or on a conference call and not everyone has arrived, requiring you to banter with the client/boss/partner mano y mano.  How do you engage in small talk and build rapport?  If you get nervous and start to stammer, what do you do?  Do people [...]
      Inflexion Point
    • HR’s Easy Button
      You’ve seen the commercials - lady in the store trying to use her Staples Easy Button to pay for her groceries.  In HR, I was always looking for the Easy Button since dealing with humans is probably the most complex thing on earth.   I’ve seen engineers design unbelievably complex electronic circuits, but they don’t come close to [...]
      rulrici
    • Book: Johnny Bunko (The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need)
      Daniel Pink could have written a classic business book about choosing a career, but he took a risk, tried something new and wrote a manga! The ad for The Adventures Of Johnny Bunko (The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need) says that it’s “Americas first business book as manga”. It contains very nice and expressive art [...]
      Happy Employee
    • Accountability vs. authority: the biggest non-issue in business
      “Help! I have all this responsibility and no authority to get it done!” OK, I’ll help: authority is designed to formalize and strengthen your ability to influence others, not to replace it. If there is something you need done and you can’t figure out how to do it by influence, then having authority won’t help. In [...]
      JasonSeiden
    • Recruitment Spotlight: How to Check References
      Most people have to check references in some shape or form, whether it’s for a candidate or a babysitter. I don’t know about you, but until I wrote Success for Hire I never really knew how to do it. Here’s what I learned: While you can e-mail a reference initially, connect either in person or by [...]
      Alexandra Levit
    • Woman’s Leadership Programs – No Boyz Allowed
      Companies will often use external, university-based programs as a way to develop their high potential senior leaders. These programs typically are 1-2 weeks in duration and offer an intense (and expensive) learning experience. According to Iris Marchaj, Director of Smith Executive Education, “99% of leadership development programs offered by elite business schools are male-oriented…which is precisely [...]
      Dan McCarthy
    • Sink or swim? Do you trust your employees/co-workers?
      If you are like me, you have a hard time delegating. You like having control over a process and have a hard time letting go. Luckily, I have learned to combat this initial reaction of mine and trust the people around me. At least initially. If you screw up it takes quite a bit to [...]
      HR Minion