[Image source: Rare Book School]
See employees learn.
Learn, employees, learn.
See employees say, “Ah.”
“Ah,” said the employees.
“Ah, ah, ah.”
Simple language works.
Simple, simple, simple.
Snickers the Wonder Dog forgot how to go to the bathroom on her morning walk.
She’s seven. And as you can tell by her name, she’s wonderful. But with this new behavior — Gee, you mean you think I shouldn’t just walk down the middle of the sidewalk like nothing is happening in the world? — she’s quickly becoming Snickers the Dog.
The thing is, she’s the best trained and most reliable dog in the world. Right up until we got a record annual snowfall in Philly. There’s snow piled everywhere. And Snickers doesn’t like it. Normally, when there’s grass in full view, she’ll get her business out of the way and I’ll be back in the house by 6:15am or so. Not since six feet of snow dumped on our neighborhood this winter. And Snickers won’t have any of it.
So, it’s back to teaching an old dog new tricks. Like going to the bathroom on her morning walk.
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Here’s what I know about HR communication: Sometimes you have to remind people about things you think they already know. When things change — a little or a lot — employees can forgot what they know. There’s nothing wrong with reminding that the snow will melt and that there’s grass under there.
Here’s a video of Snickers the Wonder Dog playing in the snow. This part is more fun than the morning walk.
The best thing that SEPTA ever did was create a quiet car on the suburban Philadelphia rail lines. During rush hour, the first car of a 3+ car train is designated as a quiet car. No talking. No cell phone conversations. Peace and quiet.
I’m a quiet car enforcer. I don’t hesitate to remind people that there’s a reason everyone is quiet except them.
Last Friday, a woman behind me answered her phone on the morning ride in. She started talking at full volume. I turned to look at her once, which meant “quit it.” She kept going. Louder. I turned around and looked at her square in the face.
“MY SON IS SICK!” she shouted at me.
I suggested that if he was sick and she needed to talk to him, perhaps she shouldn’t have gotten on the quiet car. She hissed at me. I’m not kidding. Hissed.
I laughed. Shook my head.
“Asshole,” she said as she got up in a huff and stomped off to a different car.
(I could go into another whole rant about people not taking responsibility and never being wrong, but I digress.)
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Here’s the deal about policies: They’re not effective policies if there are exceptions. One exception — a sick kid — leads to another — a big business deal. And pretty soon, no more quiet car.
Here’s your HR lesson: Have policies that you really, really need. Then, really, really enforce them. Or get rid of them.
Myself, I vote for no insipid cell phone conversations on my commute.
George Cloutier gives business advice to small- and medium-sized businesses. Bad advice. From what I read in this article — Fire Your Employees. Scare Your Relatives. And Stop Whining — he gives what I consider the worst business and HR advice I’ve ever read. A sampling: “Fear is motivating.” Really?
He is wrong. I’ll write more about it tomorrow. Here’s a hint: You work with adults. Treat them that way.
This video, called Lost Generation, with worth watching. And thinking about. Time to calibrate, friends.
KnowHR Blog serves up straight talk about human resources. We like simplicity in language. We believe that people really want to do a good job, that there are ways to create motivation, and that communication is at the heart of it all.
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