"Personnel" -- The good old days??

I have a huge library. I like to read, and I like to stay abreast of current business thinking, in a variety of disciplines.

So, I have the 1969 edition of Dartnell's "Personnel Director's Handbook," which is just chock full of valuable tidbits. For instance:
Personnel administration is never a job; it is a vocation, a 'calling,' carrying with it divine undertones.

And another...
As we said at the outset... women are really competing in a man's world. Right or wrong. the simple fact is that man was here first.

Interestingly, we all realize how we've evolved regarding the second comment. Woman have ascended to all levels of organizations, including the CEO's office, as well as reaching a great degree of parity in general development. We have work to do still, of course; but no one can argue that we've made incredible progress since those 1969 comments.

More disturbing, though, is the first comment. I have a friend who -- long before I read this -- would say simply, "It's a job, not a calling." He is so right.

HR professionals are business people first, functional (human resources) experts second. Our focus is not a "calling;" we shouldn't provide anything to an organziation except better pathways to success through available human capital. Yet some of us remain confused -- and believe that we are the "keepers" of an organization's "soul," or something similar.

We are not. Stay focused on measurable deliverables, and let the clergy worry about the other stuff...

KB

Kevin Berchelmann
www.triangleperformance.com

Are Leaders Made or Born?

This question is a regular in executive circles... are leaders "made" or "born?" Do we have to find that person who by birthright is destined for leadership greatness, or can we cultivate, foster, and nurture someone with currently-unrealized potential to be that leader?

Combat Leadership
Leadership is necessary in combat, but doesn't hold its definition there; it may do so for current and/or former members of the military (of which I'm proudly included), but not necessarily the rest of the world. I've known many combat leaders who could only purportedly "lead" while in combat. They were ineffective without a crisis. Combat needs leaders; we don't require combat, though, to have leaders. Long-term organizational leaders don't have the "luxury" of crisis to be effective.

Critical Leadership
To use simple criticality as the overarching criteria, then trauma surgeons would be more of a leader than a high-performing CEO, merely because of job function. I don't agree with that thinking, either. Again, crisis management -- maintaining a calm, authoritative head under pressure -- is an incredibly valuable skill. But it's not the core foundation for effective leadership.

Leaders are made, not born. It's easier, of course, to start with someone who has a known propensity (assessments or demonstrated performance) to "learn to lead." It's not, however, a necessity. If we take the time and effort, and are willing to marshall the appropriate resources, we can make the leaders of tomorrow from within our existing organization.

Additionally, leadership is entirely situational, which drives people to say things like "She has no potential to become a leader." They actually mean "Given what I know about leadership from my experiences, this person doesn't fit that description." They could easily become an incredible leader elsewhere, as many have proven out in other organziations. the converse is also true: Given again that leadership is largely situational, a successful leader in one organziation may or may not be completely successful in another. Change the dynamics, change the opportunities for success.

I also believe that management and leadership are inextricably linked, so I don't spend huge amounts of time trying to split hairs on the definitions. That, of course, is a posting in and of itself, so I'll save the details for later.

KB

Kevin Berchelmann
www.triangleperformance.com

Increasing Employee Benefits Contributions

So, you've done a great job of negotiating, gnashing, arm-twisting and crying, along with some redesign choices that made the numbers get all dizzy in your head. The results are in: you actually will not see a net increase in cost of medical benefits for the upcoming renewal year.

Don't laugh, it can happen.

So, do we pass along this miracle event to employees in the form of a zero-contribution increase? Wow, would that be amazing or what!?

Don't do it. Continue the gradual increasing of employee contributions every single year. The fact that this ONE year prevented the company from realizing additional expenses doesn't negate the prior 15 years with consistent double-digit trending. In all likelihood, you haven't passed along all the increases to employees -- why, then, would you not afford yourself a modicum of recovery in your one good year?

Manage the communications; speak to your ability to maintain costs better than the public this year, resulting in a nominal increase to employee contributions. Employees expect it, and the business needs to share as many costs as possible regarding healthcare. We can't afford NOT to.

KB

Kevin Berchelmann
www.triangleperformance.com

Marketing HR

I recently had a senior-level human resources professional ask me for creative ideas to market and showcase the value that the HR team provides. This executive went on to say how he was fortunate enough to work for a company in which HR works in close partnership with Operations. However, he thought they could do a better job of marketing their successes and accomplishments.

This is a great topic for HR folks, so pay attention...

If you're really serious about it, approach the marketing effort strategically as would any business.

First, determine your market. This is absolutely the most critical step. It's unlikely that your primary market is a bunch of employees, unless you are solely a employee relations and benefits provider. In fact, if you still believe you are there as a simple resource for employees, you probably shouldn't be reading my blog. You'll just get frustrated.

Your primary customers may be a dozen executives, or a couple hundred managers. Determine who your true customer is, and start there.

Then, as Tom Peters likes to say, "Do something really strange... TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS!" Find out how your customers want to be updated, communicated, and sold. They'll tell you, if you are truly of value to them.

Now, if you want to find out what you should be doing, instead of just after-the-fact publicity, go the next step in the planning process: Do a gap analysis. Determine where you are today, in relation to what your customer(s) want/expect from you. The delta between the two is the "gap," or your targets of opportunity. This analysis will require substantial thought and time commitment; you'll want to discuss, cuss, analyze, cipher, ad nauseum with a variety of key stakeholders within your organziation.

Then, develop an action plan around that gap anlysis, complete with measurements. Determine what your future will look like, then plan the steps to reach that future. Now, you've got your marching orders and marketing fodder -- the easy part is "how" to get the word out. Trust me, when general managers see you as a resource for operational success, you won't need to "market"...

KB

Kevin Berchelmann
www.triangleperformance.com