Blowing Up the Box of HR

I was reading a blog post by Kevin Elkenberry entitled Six Ways to Think Outside the Box. It was a good post. What I liked about it was the fact that he said he really dislikes the phrase "think outside the box." He said that even that, much over used phrase, constricts your thinking. He thought that perhaps "explode the box" or "find a new box" would be better phrases. Well that got me to thinking (an increasingly rare event these days) about the "box of HR." Many "thought leaders" and fellow bloggers are trying to think outside the box of HR. People are trying to find creative ways to do things, new methods of organizing, and new things to try to break out of the old mold of HR. (Another overused phrase.) There have been some successes, but to many not enough.

So I thought "why not BLOW UP THE BOX OF HR?" (Creative huh?) I think some people out there may even be trying to do that. Trish McFarlane of The HRRingleader cofounded HRevolution in an attempt to revaluate the world of HR as it exists today. I have not had the good fortune to attend so I don't know what level the thought processes are on. Laurie Ruettimann of PunkRockHR fame lights a fuse every once in awhile to blow up the box (and she is a real firecracker! Ok bad pun.) But she is moving on from PunkRockHR and starting her own company, so we will have to see what happens there.

I am doing some more reading about Futurism so I am not ready at this moment to suggest how I might blow up the box of HR. In fact I was wondering whether it can even be blown up. We have all this "stuff" that the government requires that has to be sheltered in a bomb-proof safe. So if that cannot go away then will we always be constrained by the existing box and be unable to blow up the box. Perhaps the best we can hope for is to change the shape of the box.

What do you think?

• We can and should blow up the box.
• We may be able to reshape the box.
• We can only change the wrapping on the box.
• Hey, I like the box the way it is.
• What the hell are you talking about Haberman?

Vote for one and send me an answer.

The HREvolution: An Interview with Trisha McFarlane- Part I

On May 7th and 8th a group of Human Resources and Recruiting "thought leaders" will meet in Chicago to discuss the future of the profession of Human Resources. This will not be an academic conference with names like Ulrich in attendance. This meeting is billed at an "Un-conference" and includes names like McFarlane, Eubanks and Ruettimann. The second meeting of HREvolution will be made up mostly of HR bloggers, tweeters and practioners who are interested in discussing how HR can fundamentally progress from the current state of the field.

I had the opportunity to interview "Thought Meister" Trish McFarlane who was the creator of the idea of HREvolution and I asked her some questions about the why and wherefor of HREvolution. This is Part I and Part II will appear tomorrow.

MH: You are the creator of HRevolution, so when people ask you what is HRevolution, what do you tell them?

TM: You know, we have this great description online that sounds all “official”. Here’s what HRevolution means to me personally. HRevolution is for ME, it’s for YOU. It’s an event that brings together not just like-minded HR and recruiting professionals, it also brings us closer to those people who do not think like us. It’s true purpose is networking and collaborating with some of the thought leaders in our industry. And the real beauty of it for me is that no one is excluded. Everyone pays their own way from the planning committee to speakers to participants. We’re all the same. That is how I know that people really come for the right reason. It’s not about collecting swag from a booth. It’s about making connections and friendships with people you respect. And, the participants are the most generous you’ll find. We have so many people paying for others who are out of work just so they can come and network too. It’s about being part of the HR/ Recruiting family.

MH: What was the genesis of HRevolution?
TM: The idea came out of the frustration of working (at the time) for a company that would not pay for conferences. Most conferences cost thousands of dollars to get in, then you have hotel, food, and travel costs on top of that. I wanted to attend one so badly, but didn’t have the money. So, I tweeted out:

“Think we should plan a #HR blogger conference. 1 day. Blog specific learning/sharing. @beneubanks @theredrecruiter @stelzner @lruettimann”

From there, Ben Eubanks came up with the name of HRevolution and we were on our way. We quickly added Steve Boese, Mike Owcarz, and Crystal Peterson to the planning committee. Mike eventually had to step out when he and his wife welcomed a new baby, but he was there in spirit. It was great to see what strangers could come together to create based solely on the trusting relationships we developed on Twitter and through blogging.

MH: What is the nature of the discussions at HRE? Does it look like a SHRM conference?
TM: That’s a great question. Many of us, including me, are SHRM members, but it is not like a SHRM conference. You’ll find the venues we choose are meant to be really comfortable, almost like you’re coming over to a friend’s house for a dinner party. BUT, the discussions are the key. You will find some serious discussions on every possible topic that affects HR and recruiting. Some sessions become quite heated, there may be debating, there may be a lot of agreement. We just never know. What I can promise is that you will not sit through even one PowerPoint presentation. You WILL be part of the conversation on the topics you choose. I left the last HRevolution feeling like I learned more in one day than I had in years.

MH: Who did you try to get attend HRE?
TM: Well, we may be a grassroots effort with no marketing budget, BUT we exploit social media to do our initial outreach. We use blogs, Twitter, FaceBook, and LinkedIn to spread the word initially. Then, our past participants jumped in and started to tell their networks. This time we also strongly encouraged the people in the online HR and recruiting community to reach out to friends and colleagues in the industry who are not using social media. At this HRevolution, you will begin to see more of a mix in our participant base. Ideally, that will continue.

MH: I believe HRE is filled up, for those of that didn't attend will any material be available from HRE?
TM: For those who cannot attend this time, we are going to be as creative as we can. We have plans to film portions of various sessions and eventually share those on the HRevolution site (http://hrevolution2010.com). Also, you will see many blog posts coming out after the event. We may even have a white paper or case study develop from the event. It really depends on what direction the participants take it. It’s very exciting.

Tomorrow: Part II

Is HR the Eunuch of the Corporation?

(Note: On Thursday, April 15th I will be the guest on the Internet radio show DriveThruHR, hosted by Bryan Wempen each day at 12 pm Eastern time and 11 am Central time. I will be talking to Bryan and the audience on the value of Twitter to HR. It is not a play toy. It is a serious tool for the leading edge HR professional. So join us by clicking on the link above.)



According to Wikipedia a Eunuch is "...is a castrated man; usually one castrated early enough to have major hormonal consequences. ...The term usually refers to those castrated in order to perform a specific social function...they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as: courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants...."

The meaning of the term "eunuch" has come to take on a more general meaning of "unempowered or powerless". It implies weakness and it is in this vein that I ask the question in the title. And in this vein it applies to both men and women in HR. My answer to the question is a resounding "it depends." It depends on the leadership of HR. The words from which eunuch is derived are "...from the Greek eune ('bed') and ekhein ('to keep'), effectively 'bed keeper'." In some organization HR plays a very servile role. Keeper of the files, doing the bidding of the management team, often in ways that cause many HR people to lose sleep at night and develop ulcers. I have personally worked for someone who was very much the "corporate eunuch." As with many eunuchs of history he used position power and intrigue to his advantage. Those of us that worked for him had no respect for him. And he let the company executive management get away with too much. The company collapsed not too long into its history.
 
Today I am encouraged however, with the growth of HR leadership. There are many in the profession who have shrugged off the mantel of eunuch and stepped up to the role of trusted and valued partner. They are trusted, respected and valued by their peers and company leadership. They have power, not because of intrigue and guile, but because of knowledge, foresight and courage. They are transforming HR in their organizations, as Dave Ulrich and his colleagues suggest in HR Transformation: Building Human Resources From the Outside In. By reading blogs and having conversations I have had the good fortune to meet several outstanding newer leaders in HR. They are the face of the "NEW" HR. They have both book "smarts" and "street smarts." They have trust, they have respect, they have courage and they have a "voice." This latter trait is important. That is what spreads the "word" and encourages others to adopt their ways.

I hope many of you have meet someone who falls into this catagory, but I want to name a few of the ones I have met who fall into this catagory. These include Kris Dunn, Trish McFarlane, Jessica Lee, Lance Haun and Laurie Ruettimann. A couple of up and comers to watch include Ben Eubanks and April Dowling. If you feel you have been labled the "corporate eunuch" then study these people and learn.

I am sure I am missing some great HR people. I did not mention the many great consultants I know that are helping lead the charge as well. If you know someone great let me know! Publish their name here so we can all get to know them.

Revolution: Breaking Down the Wall of Old HR?

This past weekend an event occurred that probably most HR people did not know about. It was the HRevolution conference that was held in Louisville. I was unhappy I did not have a chance to attend. I wish I had. Some of the best of today's "young" HR thought leaders were there. These are people who carry sharp sticks and like to poke the "beast" of current HR thought. They ask the hard questions we should all be formulating answers for. Lance Haun (thelance on Twitter) talks about this at his blog Rehaul in his post "You say you want a revolution?" Although it has passed you can find out more about HRevolution by visiting here.

I love the name, it has so much meaning for me. First CHANGE. I think change is good and it is time to make the "beast" move. I like the word evolution in it. It also means CHANGE. But unlike most peoples conception of evolution as slow change there is the theory of PUNCTUATED EVOLUTION or Punctuated equilibrium. This theory means that not all change occurs gradually, that some evolutionary changes can occur rapidly. (That is the short version.) I think we can make HR change rapidly.

I come back to the word revolution in meaning turning. I think we need to keep this movement going. I appeal to Trish McFarlane, Ben Eubanks,  Crystal Peterson, Steve Boese, Laurie Ruettiman, Jessica Lee, Kris Dunn and other "beast stickers" to keep the momentum going. I think it may be fortunate happenstance that this occurred the weekend just before the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1987 Ronald Reagan, in a speech at the Berlin Wall, said "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Let me pharaphrase that famous speech. "If you seek prosperity for employer and employee alike, if you seek great people, great systems, effective teams, employee dignity then come here to this gate. Open this gate. Tear down this outdated and stale way of doing things." Make this past weekend a clarion call for action. Take up your hammers and chisels and begin chipping away at old ideas, stale ways of doing things. Question the "tried and true" and get away from "that is the way we have always done it." Make the old guard of HR take notice.

ISM: Three Little Letters That Mean So Many Things

A couple of weeks ago on Twitter (follow me at http://twitter.com/MikeHaberman ) I made a comment about AGEISM. I even wrote a blog about Ageism in the Workplace. Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR fame came back and made comment to the effect that we seem to have an "ism" in alot of areas. And indeed we do. Racism, the big ISM of the HR world and probably one of the most prevalent ISMs in the United States is once again in the news. Here in Georgia, and elsewhere, rascism is being claimed as the reason people are against a national healthcare plan which has been labled as ObamaCare. (I am not going to get into a discussion on that at the moment so don't roll your eyes and close me down.) But we have also seen recently agesim and sexism. We in HR tend to equate ISM to discrimination. So we may some day end up with "fatism", "shortism", "dumbism", "poorism", "richism" and who knows what else.

But this got me to thinking. What exactly is ISM? So here is the lesson.

1. Ism is a noun which means a particular doctrine, system or theory.


2. But it is also used as a suffix to specify what particular doctrine, system or theory, e.g., pacifism, Catholicism, Darwinism, anthropomorphism, and hedonism (my favorite).


3. It is a suffix that also defines an action, such as terroism; defines a characteristic, such as heroism; a state or condition that results from an excess of something, such as strychninism; or a distinctive or characteristic trait, such as Latinism.


4. It is also an acronym for about at least 50 different organizations as well as Internet and business usage.


5. It is a punk rock/alternative rock band in New York.


6. In Arabic it means a personal name.

So alot of usage for three little letters. Over the coming weeks I will be exploring the one defintion of it that seems prevalent in Human Resources "An attitude of prejuidice against a given group." I will look at racism, ageism, sexism, etc. from a human resources perspective and maybe a little social/scientific perspective as well. So stay tuned.

Compromise, Old Ways and Reform: Why EFCA Is So Important

I know alot of people are tired of the discussions on the Employee Free Choice Act. Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock Human Resources is a leader in this respect with her blog post of EFCA: I'm Bored. She says this is a tired discussion and that labor and management both missed an opportunity to come up with a new way of conducting labor relations.

Arlen Spector, the Republican Senator from Pennsylvania and a key vote on EFCA, has publicly announced he will not support the bill, thus eliminating the possibility of a vote of cloture. (Cloture means closure. Here is an explanation of it from the Senate.) In his remarks Specter also suggested that the National Labor Relations Act needed an overall. Michael Moore, at the Pennsylvania Labor & Employment Blog, gives a detailed explanation of Specter's remarks. My reading of this overall actually sounds still too biased in favor of unions and is not much more than another way of institutionalizing EFCA.

I am in agreement with both Ruettimann and Specter. It is time to look at modernizing and revising labor laws passed in the 1930's and 1940's. The world is a much different place now with a much different workforce. However, in order to do that both sides of the table must be interested and UNIONS are not interested in doing that. They see this time and this administration as an opportunity to regain power, using old methods and old tactics that perpetuate old union points of view. Why negotiate a new way of doing things if you think the deck is stacked in your favor? (explanation of that idiom)

That is why it is important to defeat this law! Passage will not bring about a new, even way of doing things. It will bring about a new way of doing the old things and it will be in favor of the unions. And once that is done it will be a long-time before we get reform.