At The Risk of Sounding Unpopular

I've been suffering social media fatigue of late. Taking a little time off has allowed for some personal introspection:

• The amount of content made available to us can be overwhelming.
• Is there a way to find only the information that we deem meaningful?
• Is it healthy to avoid the opinions of those with whom you may disagree?
• If you miss out on breaking news how much are you really missing?

The Tripping Point
When do bad people become bad? Do they wake up one day and decide to break the rules? Does the disappointment of trying and failing cause them to look for short cuts? Do they simply live a life free of value?

Life has it's points of frustration and there are times when we feel the need to rally against the system. At some point, we grow to accept the standards through which we need to succeed and do what needs to be done. The aforementioned, does not necessarily involve the compromise of one's individuality for the sake of a grander cause. When we achieve all we need to for ourselves, we seek methods of sharing our recipe for success.

You'll struggle to find answers and grind away, then at some point, you win. You appreciate the treasure of your effort until you get to the point that you've had enough for yourself.

Then You Seek to Share....

Lay Back in the Cut
Back when Americans would collude in smoky basements to play out the musical experiment know as Jazz, the greats would show up late while the new performers worked through their skill. When one of the youngsters earned their place on the main stage they would join the OG's (late, late at night). Most of them (in an effort to prove their brilliance) would jump on their first opportunity to take a lead.... One of the OG's would follow with a pummeling solo that would crush the youngsters confidence.

There were a few youngsters during this time in American Music who understood their purpose.

To make others look good.

To pass instead of shoot.

To fill up space enough to be part of the overall movement.... without regard for their personal advancement.

Therein lies to all-encompassing formula for success.

Servant Leadership
There are a variety of things that I do in my life for free. If I find something I believe in, the experience of participating is worth more than the payment for my labor.

What would you do for free?

- Teach Children
- Teach Adults
- Play A Sport for Recreation
- Learn to Play Guitar

There has seldom been a person who did what everyone else did and ended up making a difference in the world.

Anyone can learn a system and do it well enough to make some dough. While on paper that may seem boring, it's the moments in between that matter most.

Those who take chances live a life of peril. There are towering peaks and low, low valleys.

More people go into finance than sales because the tumult of instability requires a personality that one must be mentally imbalanced to embrace.

If you are going to put a dent in the universe, you're going to have to risk being categorized as imbalanced.

The amount of people who mutually agree upon something do not make that thing a certainty.

When you are on your maker's doorstep, I doubt you will recall with any degree of pride the things you did with safety and certainty. You'll likely look back on the times you surprised yourself by displaying your true potential.....

.... and you'll wish you had done that more often!

Don't Forget to Remember,

Dave    

Workforce Report - 2017

Moments after stepping off the plane from New Orleans I headed into San Francisco to present at the Northern California Human Resources Association's Compensation Conference.

After a week of interacting with 10's of thousands of HR Professionals, a few questions remained:
1. Why aren't things changing at a more expedient rate?
2. What is something new we can do that will actually work?

I left SHRM17 with a mission to help organization find their Utopian Employee Experience.

... The concept was immediately applied at NCHRA's Compensation Conference. 

What is Your Employee Value Proposition?
We asked attendees to answer this question... answered varied.

In essence, your Employee Value Proposition addresses a single and all-important question:
Why would I want to work at your company more than anywhere else?

• Do you have a better compensation package?
• Is optimal pay enough to create an irreplaceable Employee Experience?

• Is there a clearly defined opportunity for advancement?
• How is working at your company like no other professional experience?

How Do You Know?
After reviewing an extensive research project, I heard a couple of attendees express their distaste with surveys.

Nobody cares about having a best friend at work, but it is a far better experience working with people who you like.

People will not answer questions honestly if they know their answers will be analyzed and held against them.

If a survey comes from HR, one will not express candor if it will only get them in hot water.

Why are you asking the same questions over and over and only on an annual basis?

You can gather employee insight through:

• Idea sharing portals (or even a suggestion box)
• Light touch, frequently administered, pulse surveys
• Conversation.... (this is the ability to leave your office and engage Employees in face-to-face communication :()

What Are You Gonna Do About It?
Anyone can ask questions and/or gather opinion. Action Planning is a strategic necessity that commonly remains unmet.

A company I worked for once decided to alter their performance management process by having employees evaluate their managers. HR gave the results to said manager and asked that person to take action to improve their approach. Several managers embraced the concept and used the feedback to fuel their development. A few, however, tried to find out who said what about them.... their ego and tenured entitlement fueling their mission to keep their incompetence private (which was the intent of the process restructuring in the first place).

• Managers who failed to comply scared all their employees from submitting candid feedback going forward.
• HR did not follow up with employees to understand the managers method for benefiting from workforce feedback.
• Many quit.... except the managers in denial who continue to drive great talent away to this day.

This is a prime example of a good idea having an adverse effect:

~ You can spend a million dollars on tie tacks, but if nobody wears ties this "reward" will do more harm than good.

~ If you ask for opinion but do not take action, employees will fail to trust.

~ Without HR Intervention in workforce planning, incompetent middle managers will continue to drive away the leaders of tomorrow. 

Opportunity Missed
I was emailed an annual survey by our VP of HR accompanied by a diatribe of all the great programs our company offered. Authenticity was impossible, results would not be a cause for action planning and a workforce conduit positioned himself as a shill for upper management's lack of workforce understanding.

Collection of information should present a GAP analysis to understand areas of improvement.

If you are only asking for employee opinion to put a "best place to work" trophy on your receptionists desk, you are missing an opportunity to evolve.

Micro-Management has given way to Purpose-Driven Leadership!

For planning purposes, the opinion from the trenches matters more than those of the C-Suite.

Innovation is a human practice with a defined, strategic path.

Employees would rather have opportunity for advancement than pats on the back.

It is imperative that we are crystal clear in reforming our company purpose, that we validate through feedback and action plan for the future with transparency at the forefront.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave