Lately, I’ve been attracted to a show called Tabitha’s Salon Takeover because it is chock full of lessons in each episode.  If you haven’t heard of it, it is now casting for it’s fourth season and is being shown in re-runs on Bravo channel.  The show highlights hair salons who are in desperate need of intervention.  Tabitha Coffey, a professional stylist and educator with many years of experience, comes into a salon in order to asses why the salon is in dire straits, communicate what is and is not working, make recommendations for improvement and redesign the salon for a grand re-opening.  It’s not really about hair or salons, it’s about how to take a critical look at a business or department and see things with a critical eye in order to improve.

I watched an episode today that caught my attention.   The real issue of the salon was inconsistency.  The owner was inconsistent in her behavior, in her rules of running the salon, in her treatment of the stylists and of her overall expectations of what a successful salon should be.  Her stylists were inconsistent in their skills, their application of the skills they did have, their attitude and response to caring for their work environment and in their relationships with the owner and with each other.

It was one BIG mess!  Why?  Because an arbitrary approach to work leads to chaos and ultimately failure to reach business goals.

CREATING A PARADIGM

If you are advising a leader who behaves inconsistently or if you ARE the leader who demonstrates inconsistency in leading, how can you create a new model that will support and achieve new levels of success?

• Get honest-  Take a look with a critical eye.  If you are the leader or if you are working in a department where you’re not achieving success,  step back and try to look at how things get done, or don’t, as if you are a stranger seeing the group for the first time.  What are the behaviors you see that are supporting reaching the business goals?  Who are your informal leaders who can help turn the morale of the group around?  Are the inconsistencies coming from one or a small group of employees, or does the inconsistent behavior run rampant throughout the department?
• Share the results-  In human resources, we see leaders who not only turn a blind eye to what is really going on in the department.  We also see leaders who know what is going on but do not share their concerns with staff.  Part of being a good leader is being able to teach staff and without sharing results, you won’t be able to adequately teach so that the behaviors can improve.
• Set or “re-set” expectations-  We all have goals.  Most organizations set them each year.  Instead of just creating some formal document that is pushed to the side until the end of the year, gather your team together and talk about what specific behaviors and actions will achieve the goals. Your only chance of achieving success is by soliciting the feedback and gaining the buy-in from staff.  Skip this step and the house of cards will fall.
• Redesign-  This is another step that is so important but is often skipped.  As leaders, we tend to communicate that change is needed and even what needs to change.  Then, the staff are told to just get back to work.  This does not inspire change.  In order to get the ball rolling, think of some way to visually show that something is different.  Whether that means changing some work assignments, creating a new work group, making plans to change the physical work environment or another creative idea, the point is that staff who see that something has already changed and for the better will be more likely to embrace additional changes.  Shake it up!

The point is to be able to ban inconsistency and inconsistent behavior from our workplace.  What have you seen or done in order to support the change where you work?  What other tips do you give to support consistency?  

Breaking out of YOUR mold

I spent many years learning human resources and honing my skills related to compensation, benefits and employee relations.  It wasn’t until I reached my mid-thirties that I realized that I was compelled to learn more about technology, finance, marketing and communications, and ultimately social.  Spending my free time educating myself was some of the best time I’ve ever spent in terms of the return on my investment.  The best compliments I get now are when someone tells me I’m a good writer, a marketer, or an expert for them in social media.

What are you known for?

When I think of the most successful people I know, these are the people who continuously increase their knowledge.  Here 6 steps you can take to update what you are known for and be more than the definition of your job title:

• Identify industries you want to learn more about-  Before you invest your time, make sure you have carved out a path that is not only going to be interesting for yourself, but one that will actually provide you improved business opportunities in the end.
• Read as much as you can online about the topic-  The internet brings the best education to us at our fingertips.  It’s easy to find written works from experts in your chosen field as well as video to teach you what they know.
• Interview “experts” already in that field and ask for recommendations to get up to speed in that industry- This is the time you really need to break out of your comfort zone.  You will be reaching out to people you may not know and asking for them to help you learn.  Keep in mind that many people like to
• Listen to podcasts on the subject while driving or working out
• Register for a course online or at a local university
• Ask to job shadow someone already working in the industry

With a bit of time, a plan, and a desire to learn and expand, you will be able to position yourself to no longer be defined by your job title.  What have you done to change this in your career?  Share with us in the comments.

Today, we’re going to learn how to create podcasts for your employees.  There are so many employees who prefer a quick hit of information in verbal form.  With hundreds of email coming in each day, key HR messages can tend to get buried and possibly never opened.  When thinking about your internal communication strategy, it’s key to build in other ways to have the key messages heard.

Create podcasts for employees- What information do you share?

HR is tasked with communicating throughout the year on a variety of topics.  Consider:

• Leadership meetings and updates
• Annual benefit enrollment
• Performance review process
• Merit increase information
• Local office initiatives
• Charitable giving updates and opportunities

How to get started

Firs, have a conversation with your Marketing leader.  It is possible the company already has a preferred method of creating and sharing information via podcasting.  If not, there are many online services. These services vary by ease of use, level of security, ability to share on a company site, cost, and ads included.  You’ll want to start by thinking about those aspects before deciding on whether you want to be self-hosted or use a third-party site.  Here are some of the options:

• PodOmatic-  This is a free service that offers both podcasts and minicasts.  They have free options as well as “pro” options so you can determine the level you need based on your requirements.
• BlogTalkRadio-  Another popular site for it’s ease of use, BlogTalkRadio provides many options for either free or paid hosted podcasts.  They are easy to share on your website or via social media.  The instructions are clear and you can get started in just a few minutes.  A great option for beginners.
• LibSyn (Liberated Syndication)-  One of the largest platforms to host podcasts, this site has a great feature of offering  the option for mobile apps for your podcasts.

There are many other options out there and you can always choose to self-host.  That option is obviously more technical in nature, so talk with your IT department before taking on this type of project.

Stay tuned next week for more tips on how you can incorporate social media into your HR practice.

My plan is to give a brief description today, then provide more detailed posts about the steps to actually accomplish each one.

10 Easy Ways to Build Social Media into Your HR Practice:

• Tweet your jobs-  It’s becoming common for companies today to have a company Twitter account.  Make sure that at a minimum, your recruiters are sharing their job openings on Twitter.  They should also tweet reasons candidates would want to work at your company, share awards or recognition the company has received and in general, any positive messages about the organization.
• Engage with candidates on Twitter and Linkedin-  The key to closing a candidate on a specific position is the ability of the recruiter and interviewers in connecting and engaging with the candidate.  Connect proactively with the candidate on sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Find HR resources on Twitter, then connect-  Twitter has a “Lists” feature where you can search for specific types of people who use the medium.  Search for other HR professionals or recruiters then start following.  Even if they are not following you yet, “tweet” at them and introduce yourself. It’s a great way to build your network and add valuable HR resources to your practice.
• Strengthen your employer brand with FourSquare- Make sure that your organization, or each of the locations, is listed on FourSquare.  Encourage employees to “check in” each day and once they do, encourage them to leave “Tips” on why it’s great to work there.  This is a great way to strengthen your brand and you can easily reward employees who are most active.
• Reach out to passive candidates via FourSquare-  One tactic I’ve heard about may be a bit controversial but in times where there is a talent shortage in certain skill sets, you may need to try innovative ways to connect.  Post open jobs in locations near your target candidate market.
• Use a blog to communicate HR news- Not everyone or every company should have a blog.  However, if you have at least one person (exec or HR team member) who is committed to writing, a blog is a great way to share HR news.  The key is also having someone who can respond to comments and questions that come in from employees.
• Create podcasts for employees- Do leaders have regular meetings about the health of the organization?  Do you have HR activities like annual benefit enrollment, merit increases, performance reviews and such?  If so, you can use podcasting as a way to save key information in a format that is easy for employees to listen to anywhere and with minimal time needed.
• Post YouTube video showing what it is like to work at your company-  Another way to strengthen your brand is to ask employees to record videos of what they like about working at your company.  These videos can be posted on your intranet, on the company site or via sharing sites like YouTube.  It’s a great way to engage both current and potential employees.
• Reward employees who share positive company messages using social platforms- Instead of being the company that monitors social platforms to catch employees posting things that are considered wrong, catch them posting messages that are positive about the company.  Set up an incentive program to encourage positive participation on social media.
• Create a LinkedIn Alumni group-  LinkedIn is the one platform employees and employers tend to agree is the most business focused.  Since membership is on the rise, take advantage and set up organization groups to drive interaction.  Specifically, don’t forget about your employees who are leaving the company.  Ask each one to join an alumni group and use it as a way to remain connected, share company news, and provide information on the industry.

There you have it- ten quick things you can do to amp up your HR team’s involvement in social media.  Stay tuned over the next two weeks for more detailed “how to” posts on each of the items.  

What have you done to get your HR team involved in social?  Share in the comments.

I read an article recently called Why You Should Drink At Work.  Apparently, a study at the University of Illinois, Chicago recently proved that mildly intoxicated individuals (.07 blood alcohol level) are better at creative problem solving than sober counterparts.  It also found that the intoxicated individuals did not perform as well on math and word association tasks.  Researchers contend that the alcohol reduces the ability to pay attention and frees up creative thinking.

I’ve worked at several companies where moderate drinking during the workday was an acceptable practice.  In fact, early in my career, I was quickly told by several senior leaders in the company that if a leader ordered a drink during a business lunch and I did not, I would be considered rude.  There were definitely days when I ordered one then merely sipped it in order to be part of the group and fit in with leaders.  As I got older and more confident, I realized that I did not have to participate in order to remain respected in the group.  Today, I would not be swayed by someone in a role senior to me asking me to have a drink.

There are many companies that provide alcohol and as long as an employee is over 21, it is obviously legal to drink.  Here are four risks of drinking at work:

• Your performance really can be negatively impacted.  You may not realize it but your decision-making processes will be slowed and you may arrive at answers or make decisions that you will regret later.
• If you drive you’re risking the lives of others.  If caught, you are likely to lose your license and I’ve seen several employees over the years who have the hardship of having to find someone to drive them to work each day.
• If you operate machinery at work, you can put yourself and your colleagues at risk.
• You may be viewed by colleagues as someone who makes poor decisions.   They will lose trust and respect for you.