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2012 Is A Women of HR Year!

Trish — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:14:21 +0000

We’re just days away from a new year. I am not big on making New Year’s resolutions, however, I am committed to one thing in 2012 and that is greater contribution to the Women of HR site. Several years ago, a group of women all tied in one way or another to the HR industry got together in Chicago. One of the bi-products of that visit was the idea for Women of HR.

WomenOfHR.com

Women of HR is a site dedicated to the development of women in human resources and business. It is a place to find information and discuss topics on a wide variety of issues that impact the lives of women. It’s a place to find community and collaboration. I’d like to share three of my favorite posts from Q4:

Hard Work Alone Will Not Get You Noticed by Debbie Brown

Bully Boss or Tough Boss? How To Tell the Difference by Jennifer Miller

Toxic Behaviors in Human Resources by Jennifer Payne

As we roll into 2012, I’d like you to consider becoming a contributor at Women of HR. We have male and female writers who are practitioners in the industry and welcome new and interesting thoughts to be shared.

For more information, email me at TrishaM89@gmail.com

Happy Reading!

Blogging By The Pool? Why, yes!

Trish — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:07:05 +0000

I’m not huge on live blogging at an event because I’m one of those people who likes to take in information, digest it, then form an opinion and share. However, today I feel compelled to write while at an event. Why? Because this is not the typical HR event I attend. First, it’s in sunny St. Petersburg, FL. So, I’m taking a break from the sessions to sit by the pool and reflect on the day thus far. Tropical non-alcoholic drink in hand, it’s a great place to think and write.

Today I am at the CHCA (Child Health Corporation of America) conference. It is a place where professionals from pediatric hospitals can come together to share ideas, collaborate and network. I had the honor of being asked to speak about social innovation and collaboration to a group of HR executives from approximately forty pediatric hospitals across the US. It has been an amazing experience.

Prior to coming, I knew of only two HR attendees on Twitter, although today I’ve learned it’s a total of four. I knew that most at least had a LinkedIn profile and some even accpted my connection when I reached out pre-conference. Some are using social media in their organization and others are not. It was a very diverse group in terms of experience and interest.

My goal was not to instruct a Twitter 101 class nor a FaceBook how-to session. My goal was to talk about the value of collaborating internally and externally as an organizaiton. We covered everything from marketing to unions and everything in between. The discussion around using social collaboration was a good approach because it allowed us to focus on the benefits and risks of the medium as a whole and not on a specific tool.

I am encouraged at how the social media conversation has matured over the last two to three years. For anyone who doubts that HR executives are not “getting it”, I think that’s not the case any more. The openness of professionals to explore these tools and ideas is becoming more and more common.

Thank you to Jay Kuhns (VP of Human Resources, All Children’s Hospital) and David Cook (VP of St. Louis Children’s Hospital) for inviting me to speak at the event. To know that our children’s hospitals want to be not only on the forefront of pediatric medical advances but also on the forefront of technological advances in the people management side of the business is inspiring!

Twitter Is A Utility

Trish — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:18:46 +0000

I read the most fascinating article in MIT’s Technology Review recently. It was an interview with Jack Dorsey, creator and former Chairman of Twitter. Jack was replaced as chairman last October by co-founder Evan Williams and Jack is now working on his next “big thing”. Square.

Square (@square) is a system which enables individuals to make payments via their smart-phones. While the idea of Square is interesting and worth reading more about in the MIT article, it was a quote about Twitter that caught my attention. “I think of Square in the same way we thought of Twitter. We’re building a utility.” It is an interesting concept.

I am often asked why I use Twitter. What is the value? Why should I use it? Is it worth my time? I then give all the reasons I use it and examples of how it can be beneficial from a number of different business perspectives. However, this new way of thinking about Twitter really shocked me in a positive way.

If Twitter is a utility, it is a necessity. The naysayers will not believe it yet since we’re still in the early stages of adoption of social platforms for business use. I have been using Twitter as part of my daily routine for 2 1/2 years though and I can attest to it’s utility. It’s serendipitous to think of all the information I’ve been exposed to during that time that may have never been available to me. The only limit to what you as an individual or your organization can do with Twitter is your imagination.

Recruiting
Research
News
Teaching
Sales
Networking
Information sharing
Emergency Preparedness
Collaboration
Sports

So, what do you think? Will Twitter soon appear as one of the utilities on future editions of Monopoly? Welcome to the Twitterverse!

collaboratingemergencyfriendshipinformationnetworking newspreparednessrecruiting researchsales sharing sportsteaching

Your Job vs. Your Career

Trish — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:54:02 +0000

I was thinking today about the difference between my job and my career. Most employees use these terms interchangably. I don’t. I believe my job is the employer that I chose, who chose me, to come provide a service and be paid for that service. I think that is only one part of my career though. Additionally, a career is not just a series of jobs. Although for many people who do differentiate, that is the distinction they make.

I believe your career is a compiliation of all the work you do. Your career is the totality of how you use all the skills you acquire to bring value to your job as well as the other organizations you participate in. That includes your paid and unpaid work.

The list is long…

Volunteering at an organization
Working on PTA or PTO
Being a scout leader
Being a coach for children
Leading efforts for your church
Writing
Speaking

We choose who we work with.

There are many times I meet someone and think of numerous ways we can work together. Take HRevolution for example. This is a volunteer effort I embark on with three other people in the industry. I admire them (Ben Eubanks, Steve Boese, and Crystal Peterson) more than any people I’ve met. We CHOOSE to work together. We do it because we have a shared mission, a shared passion, and a shared devotion to each other. Then, we weave many other people into the fabric and work with them to make the event possible. It may not be a paid job, but it is a skill building effort and helps my career. To me, it’s experiences like these that make my career so much richer. It’s these experiences that make me better at my J-O-B.

So, am I crazy? Is there a difference? Tell me what you think….

Hate Your Co-Worker? It’s Ok.

Trish — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:32:35 +0000

What are the universal truths in life? Ask most people and they will tell you “death and taxes”, and to some extent that is true. But another truth is conflict. You will not like everyone. Maybe it’s just me, but I sometimes wonder why so many HR professionals spend so much of our time trying to get people to like one another and be nice. It’s unrealistic. People come to us with the problems they have dealing with someone on their team or in their department that they can’t get along with. We talk through various techniques they can use to make the relationship better. But why?

I know, I know. If everyone gets along the organization benefits. I understand that. But it’s just not possible. So, instead of facing situations with people they don’t like, they try to ignore it. Well, here’s my advice…

Grow up. Understand that we do not all have to like each other. We do not have to agree on everything. If it’s someone I must work with on an ongoing basis, I’ve even gone as far as to be direct with that person and say, “Hey, I know you don’t care for me and you know I don’t care for you. But, we will both look better to the powers that be if we can put on our game face and pretend to get along. I’ll back you up, you back me up. We’ll both look like winners.”

Real Life

I’ve actually had that conversation with someone years ago and then we each followed it up by saying nice things once in awhile about each other’s work. We even decided to collaborate on something so we could at least understand why the other person did things a certain way. It turned out to be one of the most successful projects I ever worked on because she and I were so different in our approach. We each brought something very unique to the end result.

Did we ever become friends? No. I really couldn’t stand her and I am positive she felt the same about me. But, did everyone think we were respectful colleagues who could accomplish great things together? Yes. And, over time, we actually had a workable relationship. I didn’t have to worry that she was talking behind my back or trying to sabotage my career. I’m sure she felt the same way. We stopped spending time and energy in something that would damage us both at work.

So, what’s the point?

Really, it’s just a wake-up call that for all the articles and posts out there that tell us we all have to be nice, play nice, work nice, and like everyone, it’s not true. Be yourself, don’t go out of your way to hurt others, be honest with the few people you don’t care for, try to stay away from the people you can’t stand, and the rest will work itself out. Oh yeah, and remember to watch your back!

What do you think? How do you handle the situation when you don’t like a colleague or someone you have to deal with?