Guest Appearance on DriveThruHR Radio: Is Certification Worth It?

I was the guest on DriveThruHR, hosted by Bryan Wempen. DriveThruHR is the #1 Daily HR Interet radio show in the country. Bryan, who is studying for his SPHR, asked me to talk a bit about the value of the HRCI certification. Of course my answer is yes, on both a personal and professional level. But rather than writing what I said I am giving you the chance to listen to the show. Click on show 91 or the replay of 91.

Listen to internet radio with Bryan Wempen on Blog Talk Radio

Let me know what you think. I will also be appearing next Thursday, the 29th of July talking about recent changes in the regulations surrounding INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS.  The news is not good. So stay tuned.

HR Development: Making HR Better

Several blog posts in the last couple of days stimulated my thinking about talent, skills, job security and development of HR professionals. I recommend these three posts to you and then offer my own thoughts. These three great posts are:

1. Want to Build a Winning Foundation? Don't Forget HR Development by Kathy Rapp of hrQ, post at Fistful of Talent. She talks about the importance of making sure your HR people are being developed.
2. A Fundamental Shift in Talent Management: Will "Active Job Security" Replace "Passive Job Security"? by Ann Bares at Compensation Cafe. Ann talks about the balance beam that employers must walk in order to stimulate workers, make them realize that they have to engage in "active job security", yet keep them at the company. She contrasts this with "passive job security."
3. HR Should Get Out of the Talent Game by Paul Herbert at Fistful of Talent. Paul points out that "talent", which is the big item discussed in HR, is not the most important thing HR can focus on. Rather HR should focus on developing skills to best leverage the native talents that employees have.

So what deep thoughts have these three posts prompted in my little brain?  (I feel like the scarecrow ... 'If I only had a brain....')

• The changes in the economic situation in this country have prompted a change in the mind set of employees. No longer do they want opportunity, rather they are interested in job security. Unfortunately the "old days" are gone and the traditional "passive job security" is gone. Employers no longer let you stay "just because." You have to perform. And employees know that they have some responsibility for their "active job security" yet they feel unprepared to deal with it.
• Companies need to seize this opportunity and do a GREAT DEAL MORE skill development. Take the "talent" that has been recruited and spend time and money on making them better at what they do. Impressing on the employees that improving their "resumes" on an annual basis is the best way to engage in "active job security." "And they reason you want to stay with us, is because we provide you with the opportunity to constantly get better and more valuable." I am a big fan of Tom Peters' idea of improved resume as performance evaluation idea.
• To faciliate this skills improvement, and to deal with the ever-changing, topsy-turvy world that HR is today, we need to have better HR professionals. Yet few, very few, HR departments demand that their professionals get better. Sure they may offer some encouragement, such as tuition reimbursement or extra money if you get a PHR, but few actually require this kind of development. I teach PHR prep and over my 12 years of doing so, most attendees are there on a volunteer basis. Some get their money back if they pass. Some get more money if they pass. Some employers even arrange for a class to be taught especially for people in their organization. But even then attendance is voluntary.
• To me, the CEO of an organization should demand that his/her HR professionals be the best in the business. In an economy where most of the companies assets are the tied up in the brain power of the people working for the company, having an HR department that can handle this is of utmost importance. Thus HR at all levels needs to be developed, not on a voluntary basis, but as a requirement of continued employment. Don't want to learn and improve? Then leave and make room for someone that does!
• Not everyone can earn a PHR/SPHR. You have to hold an exempt position in HR to qualify. But that doesn't mean non-exempt HR should be ignored. Classes can, and should, be structured to give EVERYONE IN HR, a learning experience to make them the best. All professional, exempt level, HR should be required to achieve the PHR or SPHR designation. Beyond that,  if there are other professional designations that can be earned, such as CEBS, then these should be required as well. The good news is that if for some reason you are ever let go, you are much more employeable as a result of this training.

I know this is pretty intense. But if an organization is truly committed to having the best HR pros, in order to have the best employees then this is the kind of committment needed. I have not yet run across any companies yet with this kind of committment to HR.

Do you kow of any? Wish to profile your company's committment to professional HR?

The Essence of Performance Management

In Collapse Jared Diamond writes "Businesses have changed when the public came to expect and require different behavior, to reward businesses for behavior that the public wanted, and to make things difficult for businesses practicing behaviors that the public didn't want."

To me that is the essence of performance management. Read that same statement this way, in the context of managers and employees: "Employees have changed when their manager came to expect and require different behavior, to reward employees for behavior the manager wanted, and to make things difficult for employees practicing behaviors the manager didn't want."

To often we try to make this process more complicated than it actually is. Behavior reinforcement theory at its simplest.

Note: For those of you working on PHR/SPHR this is Skinnerian Reinforcement Theory found in Module 3.

Getting A "Seat at the Table": One Man's Perspective

“Your place at the table.” How many articles, conversations, blogs, moaning sessions, crying sessions and musings have occurred around this topic? Countless, yet the question continues to be asked. So I figured I would put in my “two cents worth.”

In my mind there are professional characteristics and personal characteristics that enter into this discussion. The professional characteristics include:

• You must be knowledgeable in HR. Yeah I know, obvious. But I mean more than just a cursory knowledge. This means you study. Be it in school (Masters degree), be it in continuing educations (SPHR) or be it on your own (reading books, magazines, websites, blogs.)
  
• You must be knowledgeable in business, both business in general and your industry in particular. This means more education. Understand how your company makes money and what it does with it. Assets, liabilities, debt, income statements, balance sheets and the other language of finance and accounting. Understand operations issues. Supply, demand, inventories, scheduling. You get this two different ways. Read! There should be several industry journals on your reading list. Relationships! Spend time with the finance and ops people.
  
• You must be knowledgeable in the world. This means you pay attention to and understand the impact of globalization, localization, politics, social trends, economic trends, legal trends and more. This means you are an environmental scanner.
  
• You must be knowledgeable in people. This means you are a student of psychology. You understand behavior and the principles of motivation and reward. You know group dynamics and team building.
  
• You must be knowledgeable in strategy and planning. Knowing “stuff” does not do any good if you cannot apply it to the current and future direction of the company.
  
• You MUST be competent and good at what you do. If you can’t keep a file straight or keep track of a new hire why in the hell would I want you at my side advising me, if I were the president of a company.
  
• It helps if you have worked in some other area other than human resources. Sales, operations or finance will all work. That gives you great perspective on the problems departments face on a day to day basis.

The personal characteristics you must have are:

• You have to be smart. Sorry, but it is the truth. There has to be the “horse power” in the cranium. There is a lot of stuff to know and apply and if you don’t have it you won’t make it to the top. You have to be able to see the big picture and read the future and that takes some brains.
  
• You have to be a hard charger. You don’t make it to the Vice Presidential level by coming in late and leaving early. You also don’t gripe about how hard it is. You eat the stuff up. You want more. PASSION!
  
• You have to have some “backbone.” If you are afraid of making decisions you don’t have the “right stuff.”
  
• You have to learn from your errors. Don’t be afraid to admit a mistake, but move on once you have.
  
• You have to have DESIRE. You want to have that VP role then you have to ASK for it. In this case the meek shall NOT inherit the earth.

Ok. That is my take. In my experience I have met few HR professionals that meet this standard. Nothing wrong with that. There are limited jobs at the top and the rest of us will be gainfully employed in some aspect of HR. But if you want to be the “lead dog” then you need to work for it and I hope this helps.

Feel free to leave me your comments, opinions, additions or suggest a deletion.