Today we embark on another Work/Life discussion in my ‘Leader’s Series’ with Bill Boorman of the UK firm Bill Boorman Consultancy. For those who do not know Bill, he is quite a force in the Recruiting/HR/Social Media space. He not only runs a successful firm, he is the founder of TruLondon (The Recruiting Unconference London).
Leading, Coaching, & Innovating with Trish McFarlane
Monthly Archives: November 2009
Top 5 Holiday Party Horror Stories
I’ve been to my fair share of company holiday parties over the years for several different companies. Some were tame and others were quite wild. I have seen and heard things that as “Trish outside of work” I wouldn’t bat an eyelash. But, those same situations as “Trish HR” are quite inappropriate. Here are my top five holiday party horror stories
Black Friday: Take A Lesson From Retailers, HR
This year, retailers are taking note and have begun planning months in advance for today. They are talking to experts on crowd control, customer flow in the stores, and staging practice for the employees in order to be better prepared. Walmart specifically kept stores open 24 hours so that it would avoid this type of incident again.
Life Is Precious
I went to the movies to see ‘Precious’. If you have not heard of it, it is the movie adaptation of the book ‘PUSH’ by Sapphire. After seeing the trailer, I knew it would be one of those movies I would have to see alone. I won’t give away the story, but I will tell you that it is about a sixteen year old girl growing up in Harlem who is pregnant with her second baby. Her father got her pregnant.
18 Steps to a Safer Holiday Season
I thought I’d call in a real expert for us. Larry Kaminer. For those of you who do not know Larry, he is the Founder of the Personal Safety Training Group. He is also a Safety Trainer. Larry and I met via Twitter and blogging and he has become a respected resource for me in all matters of safety. So, I asked him to put together some information for us that we can share with employees, friends, and loved ones as we enter this holiday season.
Work/Life Unity: Leader’s Series
That is why my focus is on work/life unity.
Unity, or “wholeness”, takes into consideration that I am made up of all these roles. How much time I spend on each one in a given day varies from day to day, and that is what works for me. So, how have I made it work? Three words: flexibility, sacrifice, and decisiveness.
Work/Life Integration: Leader’s Series
The take away for me was that it would be interesting to do a series of posts from people in different geographies, from different generations, on what work/life flexibility means to them and whether or not they think it works. I’m thrilled to say that Eric Winegardner (from Monster), Bill Boorman (UK based Bill Boorman Consultancy), and Beth Carvin (CEO of Nobscot Corporation) all signed on to participate in the series. I don’t know if this will turn into a generational divide, a men vs. women debate, or a geographical smack-down between the US and the UK. What I do know is that I have three of the brightest in the HR industry weighing in on a great topic. We welcome your comments and ideas on what work/life flexibility means to you.
Learning Social Media Without Getting Stitches
I had the pleasure of speaking at Corporate University recently to a group of Learning and Development executives and HR professionals. While there were a few people in each session that knew Facebook or Twitter, a majority of the participants were not using social media on any type of regular basis. As I stood before the room of people and talked about using social media platforms to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing, I could see the light bulbs above their heads lighting up and a spark in their eyes.
