by Janine Nicole Dennis | Jun 17, 2013 | Human Resources
I arrived in Chicago on Sunday and already it has been a blast. From the moment, I arrived here I have been meeting so many online friends and have received hugs, kisses, and handshakes. It is amazing!
I am a huge proponent for social media and the power of engagement and learning that comes with it. However, that power or engagement has a shelf-life. At some point, there is an intrigue that leads to offline interest. You aim to get more than the 140 characters. You want to know more.
What’s the social lifecycle?
The social lifecycle is you meet online, then you engage with others on social. From the online engagement you move your relationship among the various social platforms as the relationships progress. From the consistent engagement online over time there is maybe an offline phone call, Skype session, or other mode of communication-which eventually ends in a real-life meeting when and if it is possible.
My social relationships have come full circle and are so much more meaningful now that I have shook a hand or had a conversation. Social media is a catalyst for relationships-however, eventually, the full meaning of everything you have built online should culminate into a live, breathing interaction.
I’m just one day into completing my social lifecycle and already I see the impact. From vendor relationships to meeting fellow HR bloggers, I am truly “becoming more”than an avatar, 140 characters or a blog post. I’m a person and people want to do business and/or connect with other people.
It is very easy to get caught up in social media and the ease of communicating from afar, but ultimately that gets old.
For those of you that will be stopping by “The Hive” and/or attending social media sessions for the purposes of getting started-know that it is a powerful tool, but not beginning or end of your networking or relationship building.
Make those online connections count while you’re at SHRM and complete your own social lifecycle. Use this opportunity while you are here to “become more” and make your relationships mean more.
by Janine Nicole Dennis | May 5, 2013 | Human Resources
Blogging is a full-time endeavor for me. It is time-consuming and it is something that requires energy I may or may not consistently have. I am an HR blogger juggling a full-time day job, plus a part-time consulting business, along with motherhood and marriage etc.
I am constantly asked by colleagues how I manage to find time to blog and hold down the rest of my responsibilities. The answer is when you are passionate about something you don’t think twice about doing it. I have had stories, ideas, anecdotes and best practices bottled up and fermenting in my head for years. I had very limited outlets to share all of this knowledge and so it laid dormant with no voice.
Information hoarding is a burden. Knowledge transfer helps us all.
Blogging has provided me with an opportunity to free myself of the burden of carrying around all of these thoughts about HR, the world of work and business. It gives me the chance to share my point of view and receive immediate feedback on whether my thoughts are universal truths or subjective musings of a professional.
There is a lot of noise in this space. Some of it is due to the lovely clamor of beautifully-orchestrated music being made by the best and brightest thought leaders in HR. The rest of it is due to saturation. That is saturation of purposely meaningless thoughts about HR and the world of work. All of it is disruptive for different reasons. As such, I aim to be a “signal in the noise”. At the top of the year, I wrote about“being a signal in the noise” and what that means for me. Essentially, I said that I may not be the loudest sound now, but I will be that noise that will make you stop and wonder how you missed it the first time around.
Content is king. Classics are worth the wait.
Do you remember how you used to enjoy purchasing music back in the day? I remember pre-ordering and/or waiting outside the record store for the new Destiny’s Child or Nas CD to drop. It was a feeling of great anticipation. You had no idea what you were in for, but you knew what to expect from previous albums. The album could have been garbage once you bought it, but the momentum to get you up and out to the record store and spending money was all based on previous experience. More importantly, your favorite band or singer could have been on a 2-4 year hiatus where you heard nothing but old songs from previous albums, but you waited patiently and played those old records out until something new presented itself.
I blog to deliver not just good content but the best content. Being the “signal in the noise” means that however, infrequent or irregular I blog in years to come, people will still be waiting for me to drop that next article. There is something incredibly affirming about having something so personal be so vital to someone else whether it is career advice or a resonating anecdote that hits close to home. I have had an outpouring of people from all over the world thanking me for various articles I have written. It is a feeling that is hard to explain when you receive that feedback. For me, it simply makes me happy and eager to write even more content.
Blogging is allowing me to leave a social and professional footprint that I doubt would have happened as expediently without it. I have always believed in quality over quantity, classic over trendy, best over mediocre. These are the things that push me to write until 3am in the morning as I am doing at this very moment.
Of course, you can not diminish the incredible opportunities to meet extraordinary people in your profession that have the same drive and goals to impact the world of work. I have found that in Chris Fields and many other HR professionals that I have met through blogging.
To Chris, I say remain a classic and a notch above the rest and blog on my friend. Onward and upward always! Happy 2nd Year Blog Anniversary Cost of Work!
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Nov 19, 2012 | Human Resources
In Mid-November of 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers better known as Pilgrims finally hit the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts after 65 grueling days of travel at sea. They were back an forth from the first fort and the Mayflower for living and sleeping. Finally, they settled at Burial Hill and created what was the first colony.
The turbulent seas were not the end to their difficult journey. They had to make it through a rough winter- in which a good bit of their fellow Pilgrims were lost due to poor nutrition and the fierce cold. Their luck began to change when they were met with an English-speaking Native American from the Pawtuxet tribe named Tisquantum or Squanto as they called him.
Meeting Squanto was the key to their existence as he taught them how to plant their first crop of corn, fish, and hunt for various animals. This in turn lead to what we now know as the First Thanksgiving and has subsequently led to what we celebrate as a national holiday the fourth Thursday of every November.
There’s your history lesson and here is the HR lesson. We are the Native Americans (that is HR) and our employees/internal clients are the Pilgrims. The colony is the world of work and we all have a vested interest in seeing that it thrives and succeeds. The issue is the key to its success depends on our squanto-like abilities to help our internal clients plant and nurture their crops. It depends on our ability to help them navigate the hunt for talent, resources and new ways of doing business. If we the Native Americans of the World of Work are unable to provide the solutions and foundation for our Pilgrims-the colony dies and the harvest is dead. No one feasts. It’s just famine.
For some of our Pilgrims the art of managing, developing and retaining talent to the end that the business is a success is the new world. It is unchartered territory. We have to be ready when our Pilgrims get off the Mayflower with plans, solutions, or at the very least an ability to reason through employee concerns and issues to relish in our thanksgiving.
If we fail at any of this no one is inviting us to the table. There’s no seat, no bench, no reason for the Pilgrims to thank the heavens for our presence.
Moral of the story: Channel your inner Squanto and be an indispensable resource to the companies and businesses you serve. Provide the crop and show your leaders and internal clients how to grow and nurture it. Well-planted crops lead to plentiful harvests and plentiful harvests mean everyone eats. Anyone hungry?
It would only be fair to share that Native American and Pilgrim relations went awry after that First Thanksgiving. Even then they could have used HR to manage their employee relations.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Nov 9, 2012 | Human Resources
For those of you that may have missed the headlines for the tri-state area in the last week- we have been pummeled by Hurricane Sandy and as of last night a Nor’easter. Though I was inconvenienced and pushed to my max in this past week- I was fortunate. I didn’t lose my house, wordly possessions and more importantly my life.
New Yorkers and people in general on the east coast are not accustomed to these sorts of natural disasters. A heavy downpour is the likes of what we know when it comes to natural disasters -but apparently this trend is changing. It is abundantly clear that we all need to wise up and prepare better, because we have been ill-equipped and not taking this stuff as seriously as we should and I am including myself in this.
Of course nothing that happens to me is devoid an HR lesson so here’s the story.
Things happened in this storm that we weren’t prepared for. Although we were forewarned, the attitude was either it won’t be that bad or it won’t happen at all. I lost internet, phone, power and more importantly- I lost heat. I had no generator so revving that up was not an option. This in turn caused me to charge my phone in my car. I went to stay with family also without power until the cold became unbearable and then off to a motel I went.
During this ordeal, there was no way to properly let anyone of importance know what my situation was. It was touch and go. In the interim, I became sick. How do I get that message out with all phones out of service?
The point I’m making is there was a plan, but the plan wasn’t good enough. There needs to be a team disaster plan for employees to follow in the case that they are in a situation such as mine. Conversely, empathy and common sense should prevail on the end of employers before these events to make plans among their teams so everyone is in the know. Here’s where I’m going with the common sense piece.
If your company closes down for an extended period of time due to a natural disaster and employees are unable to return to work because of this-how do you mandate them to work on non-traditional days of work (e.g. Saturday)? Answer: you don’t.Make them give up holidays instead. You can’t penalize an employee for an act of nature and your inability albeit out of your hands to make the business operational.
What does one of your employees do if they cannot make it into work due to a disaster and doesn’t have access to a working phone or computer? It isn’t business as usual. On a normal day, they would pick up the phone and call in if sick or otherwise. The day that a disaster hits-depending on the severity-is not normal. In fact, it is unlikely for it to be business as usual for a long time. Your expectations and directions have to become flexible; they have to change and that’s why you need a plan.
Have a plan. Make it simple. It doesn’t need to be verbose or terribly long. All you need to do is to come up with a reasonable way for your employees to report their status in the event that normal platforms of communication cease to exist.
Here are some examples of things you could implement:
1) Have an e-mail chain. In this instance my one saving grace was my cellphone. Consider having an e-mail chain where each team member has to contact another member of the team to let them know their status. The person at the end of the chain will report all statuses to the boss.
2) Assign emergency buddies. Have each team member team up with the closest employee to their residence in case of an emergency.
3) Make sure all of your employees have a current list of the entire teams contact information at all times.
4) In the case that everything is out including cell phones, speak with your emergency management or security groups to find out alternative ways to account for your team should you be faced with a natural disaster.
Natural disasters are not nice events. Everyone is concerned for their safety and the safety of their families. Make the ordeal a no-brainer. In this way, your employees will have guidance of how to react in these unfortunate circumstances.
Side note: My heart and prayers go out to my fellow tri-state people that lost lives, homes and all other worldly possessions. Be Strong!
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Oct 16, 2012 | Human Resources
Note: (This article was originally posted on the Smart Recruiters Blog)
It’s no secret to human resource professionals, managers and supervisors that one of the most critical decisions facing the workplace is talent acquisition, better known as recruiting. Recently I’ve read a few articles that proclaim recruiting is the MOST important function of human resources; trumping compensation and benefits, training and development, and process improvement. After wrestling this for awhile I realized that I could not argue against it. The results of recruiting are in all facets of the company. Recruiting really is the most important function of human resources.
At The Ohio State University I recall something my professor Robert Henemantaught, “All of your employee relations issues and all your human resource initiatives depend upon your people. If you hire the right people you can be successful; poor hiring decisions will cause you to fail.” Speaking to the professor’s point, if you have lazy management, it goes back to who you’ve hired to lead. If you have poor performing employees, you have to examine how you hire. Jim Collins wrote a groundbreaking human resource management book titled “Good to Great.” Some people mock it now-a-days however if you read the book it makes several excellent business claims; one being if you get the right people on the bus you will increase your chances of organizational success. There’s a ton of competition for skilled and talented employees, and competition comes from other countries as well. Good news is there is a ton of talent, skilled, educated and smart people available; you just have to find them. It’s election time in the United States. The Democrats are trying to recruit you; the Republicans are tying to recruit you; and job creation is the hot button issue. This focus on recruitment is old news for big companies, who are constantly in the war for talent. If you’ve been paying attention to mergers and acquisitions you’ll notice that the hardware and software giant Oracle purchased Taleo, a talent management and recruiting software company (aka ATS), for about $1.9 billion. But that’s not all, Oracle also bought SelectMinds, a cloud based social talent sourcing company. Hmm, seems like they are getting for the future of talent acquisition. Another giant, SAP acquired SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion. Coupled with Recruit’s billion dollar acquisition of Indeed, it all means that serious investment is being made to provide efficient and innovative methods to source for talent. “Yes! As I reflect on the other competencies of human resources you cannot do any of them without people,” saidTiffany Kuehl, Talent Acquisition and Staffing Leader of a Fortune 100 company and President of TCHRA an affiliate chapter of SHRM. Tiffany went on to discuss what makes a successful talent selection.
“You have to talk to the managers and the interviewers to ensure that they have a realistic idea of what they want and need from a candidate. Sometimes you have to re-sculpt the shape, scope and expectations in order to fit the business needs. It’s not only about finding external candidates but also moving the internal talent around. Everything goes back to the right people, the right jobs, and at the right time.” Class dismissed.Chris Fields is an HR professional and leadership guy who blogs and dispenses great (not just good) advice at Cost of Work. Connect with Chris on Twitter.
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Oct 12, 2012 | Human Resources
I have sat through my share of classes on emotional intelligence, the power of gaining buy-in etc. In every class, the speaker has ninja-like skills in the art of negotiation and getting stakeholders to buy-in, advocate and support your initiatives. It all sounds reasonable and even exciting. That is, until you leave the test kitchen that is the classroom and return to your place of work.
In theory and often times in practice you can successfully employ methods to facilitate your efforts of gaining buy-in from your stakeholders. However, what happens when your co-workers and/or colleagues are just not that into you or your ideas? The answer is nothing. Sometimes people just don’t like you. By virtue of them not liking you they are completely unwilling to hear or rally behind your ideas.
In my experience, you can bring all the major players to the table to reach a consensus and/or try to move an initiative forward with the best of intentions and practices; but alas there is always someone that takes great pride in opposing you and your initiative goes nowhere. What do you do? Do you pine away for a miracle to happen by way of a change of heart or do you accept that this person will never rally around you?
The answer here is yes. In business, you always have to be prepared for opponents or naysayers. These opponents are stakeholders that just have it in for you. They will never like you or your ideas. As a matter of fact, it isn’t just you that they loathe; it is any new idea. You can read a gazillion books on stakeholders and the art of team dynamics, but none of that will get those opponents/naysayers on your side. For that reason, you must always be ready to refocus your energy on the ones that will back you up inevitably. You will have to make an executive call and build a coalition to rally around you and move your initiatives forward.
By building a coalition, you are not shutting all of your stakeholders out and throwing up your hands. Instead, you are making sure things keep moving forward by getting a subsection of the stakeholders to rally around your efforts. The key to a successful coalition is credibility. Each player in your coalition must view you as having credibility. There may be other things that your stakeholders require before putting their support behind you; but credibility is of the utmost importance. Your stakeholders need to know that you know what you’re doing and that you are capable of doing what you say you will.
Here are three tips on building credibility with your coalition:
1) Minimize the perceived risk involved with your initiative. By doing this you anticipate any concerns your coalition may have and create answers that placate those concerns by giving a realistic description of the risks and opportunities involved with proceeding with your initiative.
2) Know your stuff. Develop your message. That is know what you’re talking about. Be ready to provide statistics and any other data to support your initiative.
3) Set goals and hold your coalition accountable for meeting deadlines.There needs to be a focus for your coalition. This is why you set strategic goals and milestones to keep the focus. Lack of focus means the coalition and you get sidetracked and nothing gets accomplished.
In business, there are very few instances where you win everyone over with your savvy ideas and initiatives. Professionals must always be prepared to explain,bargain, defend and advocate for their ideas. Don’t take it personal that they don’t like your ideas; instead be smart enough to identify your allies and neutral stakeholders. Get them on your side and see your initiatives thrive.
