Big is not necessarily Better

I admit it I have an addiction. Back in 2001 I was introduced to the writings of Kathleen O'Neal Gear and her husband W. Michael Gear who have written a series of 23 historical fiction books centered around the lives of the North American Native Americans(http://www.gear-gear.com)They are fast reads but full of twists and turns. Their latest one is called People of the Back Sun in which the Standing Stone village is manned by about 400 warriors and they are up against the opponent who is taking on the Standing Village with a force of several thousand warriors. Through out the book there are reference to how the matron of the Standing Stone village is looking at things from a strategic perspective as she tries to plan a response to this elephant at her door.

Turn your concentration away from the Gear book and think for a moment how do you respond when the elephant is knocking on the door of your organization? Many organizations take the road of trying to imitate the elephant. The view is that the only way for you to win in this market is for you to become the other elephant in the room. Not only is this not practical it seldom works. As the high matron did in the Gear book, you have another path which more than likely will succeed more often than trying to match the elephant.

 In People of the Black Sun, the high matron took stock of the assets she had and reviewed what actions she could take strategically to combat the elephant. She reviewed her assets and what her ultimate strategic goals were. How can she utilize those assets to deliver a win faster, cheaper and better than the elephant. Consider these strategic responses:

1. If you are worth your salt you have benchmarked the elephant - Your benchmark survey has shown that the elephant is trying to reach the point where they have the largest proportion of the market share. You on the other hand have looked at what they are doing and you strategically strive for a larger share of customer.
2. Look at their human capital assets - What skills do they have to bring to the market and how can you utilize your human capital assets to match or bring to the table skills which will allow you to do the same job in a better or unique way which will outflank the elephant.
3. Review their marketing materials - Whether it is their web presence or their social media presence what message are they bringing to the marketplace. Is your message a copycat or can you show you have a different message to bring

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Really, is not my job difficult enough?

Here we are on the weekend before Christmas and the Iowa Supreme Court handed us an early "gift" Before I explain what the gift was, let me take you back in time to when Bobby Darin was still performing and he sag the following words:

"WelI … I don’t know what you got But it’s got me and baby I’m hooked Like a fish in the sea. You make angles call from above. You could make the Devil fall in love. An-a … who-o-o wouldn’t fall for irresistible you."

Over the past several decades we have seen the requirements for our talent acquisition efforts become more difficult. We have to be sure that the job requirements are bona fide occupational qualifications - in other words the requirements for the job actually meet the skills needed to perform the duties of the position. We can't tell someone that we will not hire them based on gun ownership, sexual orientation, age, religious beliefs, where we came from or health status. Now the Iowa Supreme Court adds a new twist.

In the case before them, a Dentist had hired a dental technician a decade ago. He admitted to his wife that he could not keep his eyes off of her. The wife's response was that either she goes or I do. The Dentist fired her.

The Iowa Supreme Court decided that it is perfectly legal to fire someone who is irresistible . Now let me get this straight, everyone of us whether male or female has walked into a work environment and found that employee who is stunningly attractive. In the majority of cases we may not take any actions on those beliefs but it now becomes, at least in Iowa, grounds for taking away someones livelihood. Not because she or he has done anything wrong but because their appearance can jeopardize a marriage. So does that mean going forward we need to add to the job description that an individual cannot be too attractive for fear of distracting the workplace? We are not talking about a worker undergoing sexual harassment, we are talking about a worker who just plain looks too good.

I apologize to HR.net for stealing his format. Steve I promise it is a one time only event.

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The World is a better place because of those who refuse to believe they can't fly

This afternoon we continued our family tradition and attended a performance by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra who introduced a new show entitled the Lost Christmas Eve. The center piece of the performance was a story of a business man who years earlier had the unfortunate luck of losing his wife during child birth and having a supposedly disabled child who he essentially disowned. It was a fitting response to some of the feelings that I have undergone in the last 48 hours. Those feelings ranged from utter rage to utter respect. Forty three years ago I graduated with a BA in Education and spent 6 years in the classroom working with some of the age groups from Sandy Hook Elementary School. I can sympathize with the efforts sometimes to naught that these teachers went through. On the other side is the rage from understanding that these children are the ones who believe that they can fly, society has not molded their thinking to show them that this is probably not going to happen. I have the honor of being able to still stay in contact with a number of my former students today.

My wife and I are considering relocating to a town much like we grew up in which was molded much like Newtown. In a past life (LOL) we lived in New Fairfield, CT which is very similar in nature to Newtown and in fact is only minutes from there. So we can understand the violation the citizenry is feeling at the moment.

However there is another perspective we have to consider. Whether we are talking about your local school or our workplace, the implied environment speaks a bout providing a place that is safe and healthy in return for the use of our intelligence capabilities. But due to the work of one political faction we are striving away from that expectation. We live in a world that due to certain efforts has become a world centered around violence or the potential for violence. Consider that here in Florida the 2010 Census tells us that there are 19,057,542 residents and 1,000,000 of them have concealed weapons permits. This same political faction takes what ever steps they need to in order to pass a plethora of regulations across the country that tells our schools and businesses that even though you are responsible for delivering a safe workplace, you can't stoop your employees from being a weapon to the workplace.

It is time we change that environment. I have an extended family member who hunts to put food on the table. When I lived in Iowa I owned both a rifle and a hand gun and went hunting. So I do not object to the concepts in the 2nd amendment. I do however have a serious problem with open markets for weapons that have no useful purpose other than to maim and kill humans. I do have a problem with policies in the workplace which increase the potential for us to provide our human capital with a non-safe environment. We lower the productivity of the human capital assets when part of their concentration at work is on whether someone, no matter what the reason, decides the solution to their arguments with society is to start shooting. This is true whether we are talking about a movie theater in Aurora, a college in Virginia or a small elementary school where parents sent their kids because they believed the violence would not make its face known there.

We are a human resource strategist and it is our mission to show organizations of all sizes how to run a more productive work environment. Part of that discussions, based on Sandy Hook, has to be changing the philosophy of the workplace. We need to tell the political factions that our mission is enable corporate policies which protect our asset -our business as well as our human capital assets. As managers we need to let the officeholders that represent us that enough is enough. If you can prove that you need a weapon for a reasonable response to your environment, fine. But that does not include weapons which are designed to kill other than hunting.  As managers we need to stop bucking under the pressure from factions which understand only verbatim response to writings from decades ago. Consider the several hundred survivors of the Sandy Hook episode and  tell me how we explain to them the rationale from allowing the prevalence of weapons to increase with out boundaries. How do you explain to the parents that just lost 20 children that the government policies within this area are fine and it is just a freak occurrence by someone who may have had mental problems and it is not representative of society as a whole?

To my fellow members of management and Human Resource in particular, stop for a moment and think about whether your professional responsibility allows you to sleep at night when we fall short on providing that safe workplace that our students and fellow workers not only expect but demand.

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How do I add Value to the Relationship?

I recently was involved in a conference call with a prospective client who was asking me whether I would be available to come speak to their office meeting about how the staff could work closer with corporate HR professionals. I got off the call and began to look back to the time in my career when I was in the external recruiter's seat and what was important to me to establish that relationship.

So for what it is worth, here are my thoughts.

1. The Toyota Production System talks to us about GEMBA. It is a Japanese term for go and see. I fully realize that we are in tough economic times but it is worth the investment to take the time to go and see the client's operations. Meet face to face with both HR and the hiring managers. This is not a sales call this is a listening call. Find out exactly what their want and needs are. When I worked as a full time recruiter I had approached a Fortune 1000 corporation who loathed working with recruiters totally. I asked for a 30 minute meeting and went to his offices and met with HR and we talked about the Voice of the Customer as to what his wants and desires were. By listening to that conversation I became the only recruiter he would work with.
2. The recruiting profession does not have the greatest reputation out in the marketplace and one of the reasons is a lack of ethics. Respect that the client is paying your bills and treat them accordingly. Once again when I was working int he field, I was the VP of a firm and with the blessings of the President of the firm I sat down with the outplacement director of one of the largest Certified Public Accounting firms in the world and arranged that we would receive the name of all the staff that were not going to be offered partner as long as we did not poach the current staff from their clients. Went back to the office and explained this to an office meeting. Within a half-hour one of the banks did exactly what we said we would not do. The President of the firms comment when informed of the actions was that if you had any business ethics you did not belong working for the firm. We lost a source of good talent, a good client and a loss of reputation in the marketplace.
3. HR has a responsibility to their organization to find the right person for the right job at the right time and in the right place. As a recruiter you have the ability to assist in this goal by not weeding out talent for arbitrary reasons. Several years ago a recruiter posted on the Internet that she would not refer someone to a client who had grey hair.AH I HAVE BEEN GREY SINCE AGE 19. Nothing like implied age discrimination.While I know you want that check you also have the responsibility to let your client know when they are planning on taking action which might be deemed illegal.
4. HR has the responsibility to make it clear to recruiters what the skills are that are required for the positions but also need to make sure the recruiter understands the culture of the organization. A recent survey said that hiring managers are more likely to hire for culture fit rather than skill fit. One survey went so far as to say that they would more likely hire someone they could be friends with over whether the could do the job.
5. In #3 above we talked about the role HR has to play within the organization, but you have an equally important role and that is you nee to remind your client that unless someone truly misses the bona-fide occupational qualifications rule, the goal is no to rule them out but rather to rule them in. I fully realize that you want that check but that does not mean that you should tolerate actions which may be illegal. You have a vast readily available talent pool at your disposal, don't rule out those who are in a position due to no fault of their own.
6. HR needs to be sure that the position that they are recruiting for actually exists. It is unfair to the candidates, the hiring managers, the organization the recruiter and your organizational reputation be referring individuals to organizations for no reason.Likewise recruiters should not as a rule pitch candidates to HR or a hiring manager on the hope that there is a job available.
7. I do not know how you work individually, but i never stockpiled resumes. Each and every search assignment was conducted as a clean slate. I referred to those who were in my Rolodex but I never used them as the sole source of candidates. I also did not rule people out because of the status of their employment.
8. I have a business partner, Tony Alessandra, who suggests the way to success is through consultative selling. In order to add the value to the relationship the goal is for you and HR to work as equal partners in the process.Both of you will come out of it with a  win-win situation.

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The Diversity Scam: We talk the talk but do we walk the walk

We have just recently undergone a decisive election era in which some very strong views have been expressed. Some of those comments made me take a moment and reflect on the status of diversity within this country and the workplace in particular.

One of the facts that became abundantly clear is that there is a dramatic change in the demographics of the society in which we live. Change is tough but when the majority suddenly finds itself in the minority it raises a wide range of responses. And this is where the Diversity Scam arises.

Let me lay some ground work before discussing my reasoning. We find ourselves in a rapidly changing business space. An organization only succeeds when it can meet two very interdependent factors The first is that we only succeed when we are competitive within the market. We constantly need to be aware and cognizant of the needs of our customers.Th other side of the coin is we must be innovative with what we offer to the marketplace. With the changing demographic we need to be open to the inclusion of a wide variety of ideas and backgrounds with the hiring of human capital assets. The problem seems to be , from my conversations with fellow HR professionals, that many of the members of the changing demographic seem to want to move to their organizations and organizations. Why?

The management tiers of our organizations have traditionally been occupied by white male members of our society. With this they have very set ways as to the methods that organizations should operate under. That philosophy is being challenged. The establishment is uncomfortable with what thi means for the future of their workplace.

The message from our customers and society is that diversity in the workplace is a necessity. So in order to appear as though we are part of the current global environment , the message is that all of our communications pieces from the recruiting brochure to the annual report sate that diversity is a key component of our strategy. But look at the organization as a whole and what do you find?

While there are many exceptional examples of organizations which walk the walk and talk the talk. The far greater numbers extend the message through the communication devices but never intend to follow through on it unless they are forced to jump through the hoops of the EEO-1 form. Instead what diversity is found within the organizations is restricted to the low paying lower levels of the organization. Restricted at the lower levels where what diversity does exist can be pushed off into back corner of the organization. These human capital assets are not exposed to the tools to move up the corporate ladder to reach that corner office.

The difficulty is that with "those people" now becoming the majority in the workplace, just talking the talk will not make the organization more sustainable. In fact it will make the organization less likely to succeed. Like most scams, the perpetrators eventually get caught and it comes back to haunt.

As we reach the Thanksgiving holiday season and the opening of the run to the end of year, we as organizational management need to re-assess our views and our initiatives. We need to understand and accept that the inclusion of the new normal demographics makes the diversity scam totally unacceptable in the marketplace.

It is time that organizational management come to recognize that they need to change their views of the workplace. First, this is not your father's company anymore. The demographics of the global workplace have changed and it will not survive with a less than true message. Second, the new generational workers are much more comfortable in an open society whether it is life or work and they will force you in the direction of full diversity And finally as a member of your organization's management team your goal is to protect the ability of the organization to survive into eternity. We can not do that if we purposely forget about a large percentage of the society within which we operate.

So stop for a moment and really analyze are you both talking the talk and walking the walk in regards to diversity. Tell me whether your organization is part of the scam or really believes in the inclusion of a wide range of views and attitudes represented by the changed demographics within your portals.

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