Monday Inspiration: Posts to JAZZ You for the Week Ahead

I have a confession to make. I am not one of those people who jump up on a Monday morning raring to go, at least not all the time. So sometimes I need some inspiration to get my day going. Today was just such a day. (Too much baseball too late) So I headed to my reading list to see what could get me going. Here is the list, hope it gets you going too. (The nice thing was that apparently some of my stuff was on other peoples lists. http://www.maximizepossibility.com/employee_retention/)

1. First out of the chute is HR Plays Too Much Defense written by Paul Herbert on Fistful of Talent. Paul's premise is that too often HR acts out of an abundance of caution and says "no" instead of considering alternatives. It is a good read, and even better are some of the comments made. (I weighed in on this one.)
2. Next up is Bosses: Give Frequent and Usable Feedback written by Wally Bock at his Three Star Leadership Blog. Wally is dead on about how and when bosses want to interact with employees and he provides great advice on how to help them  overcome their reluctance to provide constructive feedback.
3. Ann Bares, a favorite of mine, offeres up The Immeasurable Value of Being Needed. What a great title. I have had some interactions with people along these same lines and it was nice to be reminded of my stories.
4. My good friend Cathy Martin, the metrics maven, offers up 7 Ways to Tell If Your Metrics Matter. If you are struggling with instituting metrics and are wondering why you are mired down these seven questions may provide you with some clarity. READ AND HEED.
5. Lastly is a profile found on Rehaul, written by Lance Haun. Lance profiles Ben Eubanks in HR Star: Ben Eubanks. Ben is an up-and-comer in the field of HR. He is creative and hardworking and you need to pay attention to him and his blog. He represents THE generation that will be doing all of the HR in our organizations and they are going to change things and he will be one of their thought leaders.

So there you have it. If you need a kick in the fanny this today, do some reading, get inspired and then get to work.

Engagement and Leadership: Follow Up to HR Happy Hour

The discussion on the HR Happy Hour hosted by Steve Boese focused on employee engagement and leadership. Broadcasting from the HR Florida conference, the show featured Cathy Martin and China Gorman. The discussion focused on the question of how to get employees engaged in their jobs and in the strategic direction of the company. One answer was that, while companies have traditionally focused on tactical moves to get employees engaged, what they really need to do is win the hearts of their employees. To do that leadership, based on ethics and values, and leaders who "walked the talk" were critical. But I don't think I really heard any "how to's" in that discussion. And I am not sure if there is any universal set of "how to's".

Geoff Colvin, in his book Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else, talks about where the passion comes from that makes someone be a world class performer. His discussion really became one of motivation and whether world class performers were extrinsically or intrinsically motivated. Of course we all know there has been a ton of verbage written about that. My belief is that we all have an inidividual genetic make up that predesposes us to do some things better than other things. Then extrinsic factors take over "motivating" us to use, or not to use, those genetic "talents." Those that get motivated or rewarded to use those talents have the opportunity through what Colvin calls "deliberate practice" to then turn that talent into world class achievement.

This makes me wonder if the discussion of engagement and leadership boils down to a discussion of extrinsic motivation providing a situation that allows intrinsic talents and interests to take over. Is engagement just motivation theory in a different guise?

What do you "practicing theorists" out there think? Help me develop my thinking. Leave comment or comments, it is easy to do.

The Carnival of HR: The Jukebox Edition

I have a vague memory of an email that told me I needed to get a post in for the August 18th edition of the Carnival of HR. Well guess what, that is what it remained .... a vague memory. But that does not stop me from promoting it. The blog Welcome to the Occupation  is hosting this Carnival. You will find in it a creative assortment of blog posts described as a musical genre. Interesting and of course it includes many of my favorite bloggers. Haun, Eubanks, VanDervort, Elkinberry, McCarthy, Boese, Stelzner, McFarlane, Ruettimann, Martin and many more.

So click the link, put in a nickel (well that is what it still costs at Waffle House) and "play" some good blog posts. Enjoy!

Carnival of HR up at Fortify Your Oasis

Some how I missed this one, but many of the best HR bloggers did not. Catch Cathy Martin, Wally Bock, Dan McCarthy, Ann Bares, Lisa Rosendahl and 18 other great contributors over at Fortify Your Oasis for the June 10th edition of the Carnival of HR.

Be a Bit Better at HR by the end of the day: Blog Posts You Should Read

Here are links to six blogs I think you should read. Aren't I nice for saving you the time of finding the good ones? LOL

1. Seth Godin, When Smart People Are Hard to Understand. Great advice on making yourself smarter when you don't understand something said. Clue: Acting like you know is not it!


2. Kris Dunn at the HR Capitalist, If you think HR owns turnover, you are already dead. Great story of what should be said to a manager who want HR to take ownership of the manager's problem.


3. Ann Bares at Compensation Cafe, The Excuses you may NOT use to defend gender pay disparities. With equitable compensation so prominent in the news these days this is an important tidbit of information.


4. Michael Moore at The Pennsylvania Labor and Employment Blog, Employment Law Implications of obesity and BMI after the ADA Amendments Act. Michael discusses some of the technical implications of being considered "overweight" and makes a prediction on whether or not obesity becomes a protected catagory or not. Wanna make a prediction on his prediction???


5. KJK, The Ohio Employer's Law Blog. 3 Lessons in handling workplace harassment. Harassment, especially sexual harassment, is still alive and well in the workplace. Here is a case and the lessons that can be learned from it.


6. Cathy Martin, Profitability Through Human Capital. Hey HR, please no more TABLE talk. If you have been in HR for any period of time you will get this one and agree. Time for action not talk.

Well that is enough for one Friday. There are about another 25 I could (and probably should) include on this list. But if you read these today you will be a better HR person at the end of the day.

Talent Management: Just What Does It Mean?

The other day I posed this question to a group of HR people: "Is there a consistent definition of the term TALENT MANAGEMENT?" The responses I got pretty much matched my thought. There is not a consistent definition. And I think this is confusing to HR folks and upper management. And thus things don't get done. "Talent" (whatever that means) does not get managed. Upper management gets frustrated with HR, HR gets frustrated with HR, and confusion reigns. As I was searching for a definition Cathy Martin, author of Find Your Metrics That Matter, sent me a link to the following article.

Mary Ann Downey, of IC4P, wrote an article entitled Talent Management by any Other Name... I don't think I could be anymore articulate than she was in this post. So I refer her to you and maybe she can clear it up.

Also along those lines, here is another article called Kill the 'HR Speak' by John Sullivan in Workforce. Click on the title to read that article. Talent Management is part of HR speak.