Clueless HR People

The Diversity Solutions in the Workplace video above is the most impactful training video I’ve ever seen. The subtitle of this piece is “HR realizes they need some diversity training” and that nails it. I’m still shaking my head about how good this is.

There’s a communication lesson embedded in this training film: Show, don’t tell. Can you imagine what this would have been like in PowerPoint lecture form? No freaking way. Kudos to the writers, actors and film makers in Diversity Solutions in the Workplace, which was staged by the Drama Consultant. Brilliant.

And special thanks to Laura for bringing this to my attention. If someone from Drama Consultant reads this, please drop me a note. I’d like to talk about this and more.

Use Different Accents in HR Communication

Actress Amy Walker demonstrates 21 accents in 3 minutes in this video. Embedded in her work is a question for you in HR: How many employee accents do you use when you communicate with employees?

I’m not talking about putting on a fake drawl, or mimicking some B-actor in a bad movie. I’m talking about paying attention to your audience. Understanding how they talk. Recognizing the words they use. You see, we live in a polyglot world, and even though we appear to be speaking the same language in business, oftentimes we’re not. G’day.

[via swissmiss]

HR Gardening Tip of the Day: The Best Time to Plant a Tree


The best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago.

Do you ever find your staffing plan lacking a certain je ne sais quoi while you say to yourself, “We should have done something about that a long time ago”? That’s parallel in gardening to the question of when you should plant a tree. Get going. Plant an idea today and be amazed at your wisdom 10 years from now. It happens in a blink.

[Photo credit: Helmet13]

HR Gardening Tip of the Day: Dig a $100 Hole

There’s a saying in gardening that’s the best advice I’ve ever received: If you buy a $20 plant, dig a $100 hole.

What that means is preparing the hole is the more important than the plant itself. If you dig a hole that’s not big enough, the plant ends up root bound. If you dig it too deep, the plant fades. If you dig it too shallow, the plant dries out and withers. But, oh, when you dig a $100 hole: magnificence.

That’s a picture up there of the garden path leading to my backyard. I’ve dug a lot of $100 holes. And that made me wonder today as I was up to my elbows in peat moss and loam: When a company hires a new employee, do they dig a $100 hole? If not, it’s no wonder that the employee fades. All plants look so great when you get them all shiny and new. If they don’t work out, whose fault is that?

HR gardening tip of the day: If you buy a $20 plant, dig a $100 hole.

Summer Hours Make for Happy Employees

Memorial Day is Monday in the U.S., and with that holiday comes the commencement of good old summertime. When I first started working, the company I joined had summer hours — and I loved it. We worked nine hours for four days, and half days on Fridays. It’s not like we got out of there every Friday at noon, but the possibility was there.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that companies with summer hours have happier employees. It’s based on a sample size of one — me. If you’re in charge of work policy, why not try summer hours? You can buy a lot of good will for the sum total of zero dollars.

A Little Musical Interlude with a Player Piano

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