KnowHR Recommendation: Add HumanMarkets to Your Daily Read

HumanMarkets, “the intersection of human resources and markets,” is up and running. And it’s off to a great start.

I’ve added HumanMarkets to my daily read. I’m anticipating some great stuff. The site is written by a senior HR leader who not only is a real pro, but a consummate businessperson. Combining HR and business isn’t an angle I’ve seen out there and the reason that I highly recommend adding the site to your list of leading HR material. (While you’re at it, leave a comment and say hello. Remember what it was like when you first started writing and people left comments? It just takes a second and it means a lot.)

Here’s a piece that I really liked titled, “That’s What You Are There For.” CLICK [tone]. It’s some killer advice about HR’s obligation. It ends with, “It’s been over 20 years since I made a decision that night. Some have been better than others - most importantly however, I have only a very few times, avoided making some decision.” The lead in is essential reading for all of us in the HR business.

Beware the Ides of March

Google LogoOkay, it’s a day early for the Ides of March, but Jim Stroud writes about imminent layoffs at…. [drumroll]… Google. Guess there will be some Googlers searching for jobs soon.

Ba-boom. Thank you, and don’t forget to tip your waiter.

6AM to Chicago

I’m flying to Chicago tomorrow on a 6AM flight. It always amazes me how many business people are in airports at that time of day. My sense: There are a lot of driven, talented, and engaged superstars on those planes. Wouldn’t it be cool to interview everyone on a plane like that and synthesize their stories into a book about real employee engagement? No one has to tell people who take 6AM flights what to do or how to do it. They know.

Munchausen at Work: HBR

You know when you get one of those ah-ha moments because a person brings a problem into specific relief? Today’s one of those days. This article about Munchausen at Work is a brilliant diagnosis of a real workplace issue. Siobhan Ford at Harvard Business Review wrote this to me (emphasis is mine):

Georgia Tech professor Nate Bennett studied team performance in over 30 companies and was struck by cases of employees creating fictitious organizational problems in order to solve them and receive praise for it. He calls the phenomenon “Munchausen at work”—a workplace version of the psychological disorder Munchausen by proxy—and explains how managers can diagnose it.

You can read the article for free at HBR during the month of November 2007 by clicking here. (You really should subscribe to HBR — it’s loaded with great information every month.)

I’ve seen plenty of Munchausen at Work in my career. I think Professor Bennett is being conservative when he says it’s infrequent. After all, isn’t that what half of all meetings are about — some problem created so that someone can swoop down and fix it? It’d be interesting to call people on their Munchausen at Work-iness. It could be the new “Can I give you some feedback?”, only this time it would be, “Is this a real problem or is this Munchausen at Work?” That would stop the disrupters in their tracks.

HR Idea for the Day: Call Professor Bennett. Get him to come to your shop and present his Munchausen at Work findings. Print up some buttons and t-shirts that say “Wipe Out Munchausen at Work in Our Lifetime.” Get some wristbands made that say “No MAW.”

Just Brilliant: Pay Kill Fees for Bad Projects

Bob Sutton is always interesting, but today he’s plain brilliant. Prof. Sutton writes about how high performing and creative people “fail quickly” and proposes a way for companies to have more success: Pay kill fees for bad projects. Brilliant.

Rather than having people get invested in failure on a project that they know won’t work, just pay to kill it. This is about rewarding success instead of rewarding project management. Wow.

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