Image by Paul Hocksenar
This article is part of the Renegade Manifesto Series.
“That’s how we’ve always done it” isn’t a good reason to do anything. Sure, the way you’ve always done it may actually be the best way to do something. But often, it’s not.
Let’s be honest: HR is not really an “ahead of the curve” profession. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be! Keep reading…
A few weeks ago, my shower started backing up. Not really enjoying showering in ankle deep water, I tried snaking the drain. After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally caved and called a plumber.
Actually, I called two plumbers: Gem Plumbing, who is pretty much ubiquitous for plumber in Rhode Island (where I’m originally from), and another big-name plumbing company, who for the sake of this post, I’ll call PlumbGood (which is not their actual name, so my apologies if this is the name of your business).
Both companies are comparably priced, and the quality of their work is equally good. So why would anyone choose one of these companies over the other?
What sets Gem apart is their superior customer service. And that’s driven by their HR programs. Keep reading…
A few weeks ago, Frank Roche from Know HR posted a list of 10 Ways to Be Bold in HR Today. It’s a great list.
Over on the Renegade HR Facebook Page, I asked members what they thought HR pros could start doing right now to be better at their job. I got back some great answers. Keep reading…
The March 16, 2009 issue of Fortune magazine has a short profile on Dreamworks and their unique creative people needs. My favorite piece in the profile describes how they get future candidates ready for their unique business needs.
We have alumni from roughly a dozen great art schools around the country. We send people back to lecture. We invite the teaching staff to see what we’re doing with the idea that their curriculum can be fitted to our needs. We partner with higher education so they’ll want to produce talent that is valuable to us.
That’s brilliant! Teachers get to see the latest and greatest breakthroughs in the field, and of course they’ll share that information with their students. That in turn makes the students better prepared for the types of jobs Dreamworks will need to fill.
Is this strategy something you can do at your organization? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
Mike Rowe knows a lot about work. On his show, Dirty Jobs, he’s had the opportunity to meet the people who do the kind of work that many of us wouldn’t dare.
Mike recently gave a talk at TED about work, and specifically the type of work that we celebrate in the United States. His conclusion: We spend a lot of time celebrating innovation, but not enough time rewarding imitation. Keep reading…
Ok, so there are actually a lot of reasons why people hate HR, and today, I’m only talking about one. But its a big one!
It impacts the way internal customers view us (or in most cases don’t) as a business partner. It impacts how new hires feel about your organization in the first hour of their first day with you. It’s why so many HR pros are still just paper-pushing, personnel-minded schmucks.
It has a name: Bureaucracy. Red-tape. “No.” “Fill out this stack of papers.”
Seth Godin wrote about something similar to this today, noting:
I hate going to the post office in the town next to mine. Every time I go, they look for a reason not to ship my package. “Too much tape!” “Not enough tape!” “There’s a logo!”
On the other hand, I really enjoy the few times I have something weird to ship fast… and I bring it to Fedex. The guy at the desk has a totally different approach. He’s not looking for a reason to say no, he’s looking for an opportunity to say yes. “Here’s some tape, we’ll just add it right here…”
Think about how we do what we do in HR. Why does your employee really need to fill out form XYZ before you process a simple address change? Why isn’t a short email good enough? Why does your new hire need to fill out a mountain of paperwork before they start doing something even remotely engaging?
People hate HR because we make simple tasks so effin’ difficult. Instead, think like an HR Renegade: Make it easy for people to take care of the mundane stuff and get back to doing their actual job.
I’ve gotta hand it to Manpower, the contract recruiting agency, for fully embracing social media: They’ve got a YouTube channel and a whole series of blogs.
One video that I stumbled across the other day is a Simon and Garfunkel spoof, highlighting their “Up Close and Personnel” Tour Kickoff.
The video is funny – I don’t want you to think I have a stick up my ass. But the video also reinforces some crappy HR stereotypes: that we’re all about policy enforcement, compliance, and baby-sitting grown-ups.
In another video (The Tour Comes to Iowa), they sing about excuses employees give for not coming in to work.
Hello boss, I won’t be in. I’ve got a goiter and the gout again!
Again, funny stuff… at least, if you’re an HR nerd, anyways. But is that what our profession is really about? Policing grown-ups about when the come to work, what they wear, and so on, instead of worrying about driving their performance and blowing our business goals completely out of the water with rock star like awesomeness?
So what do you think, am I just too uptight?