Don’t Be an HR Seagull
I’m sitting on the deck of our vacation house looking over the sun coming up on the Atlantic Ocean. I see the sun glinting, the waves rolling…and seagulls. Lots of seagulls.
Remember that old joke about the definition of a corporate seagull? A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps on everything, and then leaves.
My little HR hint to you today if you’re thinking about writing some dumb policy that applies to exactly one person who stepped out of line this year: Don’t be an HR seagull.
What’s Your Vacation Policy?
I’m on “vacation” this week, which means I’m staying in house by the shore and doing work rather than being in my office and doing work. (Well, not quite. I went into the office yesterday for a few hours to participate in a conference call and pick up my rebuilt computer. Then I drove back down to the shore.) That’s the reality of a small business owner, and I knew that when I signed up for that gig five years ago that there wouldn’t ever be a day off from work or worry. That’s my story.
But what about your employees? Did they sign on for 24/7/365?
I like it when employees are invested in the business. But my sense is that people need downtime. (Speaking from experience, btw.) They need time to be away from Blackberries and computers and works worries. How does that work in your shop? When people are away on “vacation,” are they really away? Is there a way that you can make it so that when they go on vacation that they really go to their happy place rather than going to work, only in a place that uses different currency?
I know this is a tough balancing act. Some companies, and some managers, are able to let their people go. They let people be on vacation. Others are always living on the edge and think those little fires are world enders. My sense is that those people never get any rest.
I don’t have a solution for this one. I’m just hoping that if I come back in another lifetime that I come back as a Frenchman. The 35-hour workweek and 6 weeks off in the summer with no worries about work sound pretty good.
How to Keep Your HR Communications from Turning Into a Playtpus
[Photo credit: Tasmanian Government]
Paul Byron of the NYT called the platypus a classic animal design by committee. Look at that thing. He cites a poem about the composite animal:
I like the duck-billed platypus
Because it is anomalous.
I like the way it raises its family,
Partly birdly, partly mammaly.
I like its independent attitude.
Let no one call it a duck-billed platitude.The Duck-Billed Platypus, Ogden Nash
Sure, the platypus looks “cute.” But I’m afraid a lot of your HR communication ends up looking like it, too. You start out with a good idea, then it morphs into something else, then there’s a committee that makes edits. Etc, etc, etc. You know the story. What started out as something great turns into a HR version of a platypus.
How to Keep Your HR Communications from Turning Into a Platypus
- Listen to the experts. Just because you took a “graphics design” class in high school doesn’t mean that you’re a designer.
- Get an executive editor. One person has to make decisions. None of us is as stupid as all of us.
- Choose good words, but don’t obsess about single words. Great communication isn’t about picking the “perfect” word in paragraph 11, line 3.
- Take a step back. Groupthink is a surefire way to create an HR platypus.
- Have some guts. Great communication requires hard decisions and some nerve. “Yes men” build platypi (I just wanted to write that word).
Check out this movie that’ll give you a good idea how it goes. This group wants a designer to create a stop sign. Here’s what happens when a committee gets involved to do creative writing and design. [via Vincent Ferrari.]
A Matter of Perspective in HR
See that house in the picture? It was built in Ridley Creek State Park, just outside Philadelphia, in 1736. Two hundred and fifty-two years ago that house was the best and brightest house around. It functioned as a mill and a home to the family who built it. Which made me think about our view of time in HR.
A few questions:
- When did long-term (as in “incentives”) become 3 years?
- How many performance management “systems” has your company had in the last 10 years?
- What happened to “Built to Last”?
What HR program or system are you working on right now that will stand the test of time?
Hell, it’s easy to get a bunch of consultants who help you implement the program du jour. It’s easy to copy what other companies are doing. It’s easy to do a bunch of training instead of implementing systems.
What’s tough — and what will last — is thinking up big ideas, having the guts to stick with them when you know you’re right, and thinking about time in increments bigger than year-to-year.
How about that? Will people be looking at your HR house in 250 years?
The Challenge of Hiring People
This video of Malcolm Gladwell talking about the challenge of hiring people is fabulous. The question he addresses is, “How do you hire the right person?”
He talks about the Mismatch Problem. Recruiters: Watch and weep.
BTW: If you’re asking new hires about their college GPAs, stop it now. It’s ridiculous. It has nothing to do with how well someone will do at work. (Um, I graduated with high honors in undergrad and grad school, so it’s not sour grapes.)
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