The Good Old Days

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the blog written by group members of Human Resources UK.

On Monday I managed to successfully navigate to London despite the fire outside Cheltenham train station, the faulty warning lights, the delayed trains and tubes and the sweltering heat to meet up with the rest of the Discuss HR writers.  We spent our time overlooking the Thames putting the world to rights, but more importantly we discussed the results of the recent survey and how we can implement this to the blog.

I am also delighted to announce that next week’s guest writer will be published author Janice Caplan who many of you will know.  So look out for her article on Thursday 11^th August.  In the meantime, today popular Discuss HR writer Dawn Clarke looks at whether HR has changed through her career, or whether it is her perception that has changed. (Ed Scrivener)

The Good Old Days …….

Is this the right view of how HR used to be?

I’ve been in HR for over twenty years now and about a year ago I decided to take stock of my life and in particular my career in HR.  We read so much these days about how HR must be strategic and ‘partner’ with the business and I have always agreed with this however when I think back to the ‘good old days’ ………  I do feel a little nostalgia.  Should we really feel bad about wanting to care for people as much today as we used to???  Many of us do what we get paid to do however is it what we actually believe in?  I wonder if there are any other ‘nostalgics’ out there?

When I first started working in HR I was an HR Officer (we didn’t have Advisors in those days).  I had recently completed my CIPD studies and landed myself a great job in a service industry.  I worked hard, learned a lot and had fun.  Redundancies in those days were almost unheard of in my sector, TUPE was not a significant issue on the HR scene and we really did spend much of our time with employee development and satisfaction.  It was a job seeker’s market and most sensible employers knew that and were prepared to invest in their people.  In some industries, the old ‘training boards’ still existed.  Mr Ulrich had yet to enlighten us with his Business Partner Model and we were called Personnel rather than HR.  I really did love my job and over time I worked for a few different companies and in the process worked my way up to HR Manager.  At this level I was more involved with the business side of things and started looking at HR from a slightly different perspective however I still loved my job and I got a real buzz from knowing everybody in the business.

I have always been a person to embrace change and was incredibly enthusiastic when I got the opportunity to use HR to make a difference to the business.  I got a real sense of achievement from improving ways of doing things, saving money and inputting into business strategy. 

My first experience with ‘globalisation’ was working for a company with ambitious growth plans and some of the growth was through acquisition.  My first experience of TUPE!!!  HR was still a great place to be for me because I was part of a successful, growing company.  As the Company grew and grew I started to lose touch with employees and decided that the company I had joined no longer existed and decided to move on.  That was about 10/12 years ago.

The last 10/12 years of my career in HR have been unrecognisable in comparison to the first 10.  In this hugely acquisitional business world, I have been acquired and disposed of and in the process of disposal have closed down one business completely.  Having been acquired for the purpose of the purchasing company taking on our European distribution channels, the employees were no longer required and I had to close the whole site down about a year later despite the fact that we were a very profitable business.  Some of the people I was responsible for had been in the business since they left school and knew nothing else.  Still I thought, this is business and people have to learn to manage change.  I did set up a very comprehensive outplacement programme with the management of personal change at the heart of it.  I really did feel for some of those people but I was still excited about working the business side of HR.

I then worked for a company with heavy Far Eastern competition and therefore a real business need to cut costs.  Improve processes by introducing lean and aggressively cut the overtime bill.  Again I completely understand the business imperative.  It was either make these changes or everyone would potentially lose their jobs.  So we did it.  Of course we had some considerable resistance but we were determined and we pressed ahead and to be fair most of the employees did understand the need for change even though they didn’t like it.  Survival of the business was the number one objective.

Is HR now too remote?

It was after this particular role that I started to question my choice of career.  At an intellectual level I understand the need and rationale about almost every redundancy I have had to make and I have always supported the businesses I have worked for.  I also believe that I have always done not just a good job but an excellent job.  However I started to question the human and emotional side of this thing that we call ‘business’ and wondered if I was a bit too good at my job.  Most of the people savings had come from me and they were substantial savings but then that was why I was paid ‘big bucks’.  I thought about the good old days and realised that I missed them.  Oh for those good old days that will never come back because business is only about one thing and we all know what that is.  It’s that thing that makes the world go around.  Have I become a cynic?  I don’t know, perhaps realism just gave me a really big kick up the backside.  The fact is that today’s business world is like a speeding (and perhaps out of control) train.  Can we still make money and treat people well.  Of course some businesses are able to do that so what makes them so different?  Maybe that’s another blog!

And me?  Well I will continue doing what I do because I’m good at it.  I will still give 110% commitment and will carry on doing what needs to be done to keep the business profitable because I also need to have a job.  I will however never lose the ‘compassionate/human’ side of myself and in many ways I hope that will help me to continue taking feelings and emotions into account when I have to make difficult people decisions. 

Are my questions about HR or about capitalism in general?  In this brave new world where strategic business partnering is the new HR mantra I do wonder if I am the only HR person to question how we have developed as a profession and whether or not all progress is positive.  I hope I’m not!

About the author

Dawn is an experienced HR professional with strong development and internal consultancy experience.  She takes a practical approach to HR tunring strategic plans into operational reality.  Dawn has experience in a variety of industries with a track record of commercial success by engaging people and making work a fun place to be.  On a personal note she is a huge Liverpool FC fan, well someone has to be!

Email | LinkedIn

*****

Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 11^th August and we are delighted to welcome guest writer and published author Janice Caplan.

Be Social & Engage

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the blog written by members of Human Resources UK.

I’ll keep my introduction concise as this week I have also written the article, so do not want to bore you with rambling for too long.  This week I have looked at something that every reader will have experience within.  Whether you’re reading this via the LinkedIn group or the blog page, you will be using social media.  This is my thoughts on how I have used this medium to great success. (Ed Scrivener)

Be social & engage

Somebody please help me escape!

We’ve all been there; you’ve got up at the crack of dawn to attend a networking event; you’re wishing you were still in bed; you’re sipping on a lukewarm drink that someone has the audacity to call tea; and you’ve been cornered by someone who is regaling you with their life story and the you’ve realised it’s a longwinded sales pitch; you can’t escape this assault on your senses!  Well, the beauty of social networking is that you can escape these situations!

Many people are put off using social media to network due in large to the technical jargon that is bandied around.  The truth, however, it that networking is exactly the same if you’re doing it in person or via a tweet (the aforementioned jargon!).  Similarly, the way to reap the benefits is exactly the same.  If you sit in a networking event and do not speak with anyone else and leave at the earliest opportunity the chances are you’ll never hear from anyone.  However, if you chat with others and show an interest (but maybe not to the extent of the sales pitch above!) you will find this will build beneficial relationships.  Simply put you need to engage with people.

I use social media on a daily basis and it has grown from being a fringe aspect of my business to being the central focus.  I use it for 2 key aspects, namely resourcing and networking and with both elements it is integral I engage with others for it to be a worthwhile exercise.

As a recruiter conducting resourcing is naturally a huge part of my day job.  Over the course of the last 2 years over 50 % of placements I have made have come via social media.  To put this further into perspective, traditional advertising has been responsible for less than 10%!  With the exception of having a paid LinkedIn account I have spent no money on social media compared to £1,000s on advertising – which is no wonder I recently decided to limit my advertising expenditure as the ROI is simply not worth it.  Clearly social media requires time and effort which is a cost in itself, however, it is a medium that is proving to be very successful.

I did not achieve this success overnight.  In fact, my early attempts were woeful and I very much learnt through trial and error.  I fell into the same trap that many recruiters and organisations do when using social media to recruit, only using it to advertise jobs.  For example, when using Twitter I would just tweet “HR Manager job, Reading, £45k, call...” and this would be the sole content of my Twitter account.  I didn’t share my thoughts or more importantly engage with others, especially my followers (who at that time were very limited).  I was somehow hoping that a person looking for this job would trawl the 175 million Twitter accounts and find my job!  My initial conclusion was that it was a waste of time and I moved back to more traditional methods.  I would suggest many others dabble in social media, don’t use it effectively and then give up for the same reasons.

It was only through luck and a timely article that reignited my interest in the medium.  This time I made the effort to look at what successful people were doing.  I realised I needed a management system and downloaded the free tool TweetDeck to manage all my social media accounts.  I now received updates in a similar way to receiving emails.  I could see when my LinkedIn connections had updated their status to publicise their availability; I was able to reply to interesting tweets when they were first published – essentially I started engaging with people!

I still tweet about the jobs I am recruiting for, but this now only makes a small part.  The difference now is that I have far more followers who I have interacted with and they interacted with me.  Therefore, when I tweet about a job many will then retweet my post – which is like CC’ing an email to all you contacts.  So previously, my job centric tweets were going to a nameless list of 10s of people they now go to 1,000s of people that I have a genuine link with.  Needless to say this is producing tangible results.

la la la la la, I'm not listening to you!!

LinkedIn has proven to be the most successful medium and the rules are no different.  I am not a “LION” which stands for a LinkedIn Open Networker as I firmly believe a network is only as good as the strength of the relations – having 1,000s of connections who you do not know does not appeal to me.  I currently have a network just shy of 1,000 people, all of whom I have a link with.  It has taken some time to build this trusted network, but it tends to mean when I reach out to them about a job I will either receive applications or referrals.  Again, this has largely been achieved by engaging with people.  If I post a discussion to a LinkedIn group and someone leaves a comment I will always reply.  If you were at the networking event and someone asked a question you wouldn’t just turn your back on them, yet many people feel the anonymity that a computer screen gives allows you to ignore these questions.  I have seen many discussions posted that ask for advice, which group members take an active part in, yet the original poster does not respond.  More often than not, when the same poster asks another question the response is very limited.  Whereas those that have engaged with others tend to receive higher volumes of support.

As you will see, social media has been a hugely effective medium for me, however, it is not my only medium.  My strongest connections are with those that I have met many times, many of whom I met long before I started in the world of social media.  However, I am connected with all of these via social media and the relationships have been strengthened by using this medium.  I have also built very strong relations with people who I first met on social media and have subsequently then met several times.

So for whatever reason you choose to use social media, it is important to treat it in the same manner as you would in a room full of people.  Engage with them and respond to them and you will find it to be a very useful medium - it is called social media after all!

About the author

Ed is an HR recruitment specialist and social media trainer.  He holds over 8 years industry specific experience recruiting mainly for middle and senior HR management positions. He stumbled upon social media a few years ago and has since become passionate about the subject.  He now trains job seekers and independent consultants in social media techniques. He is the Group Manager of Human Resources UK and Editor of Discuss HR and occasionally his humour will creep into articles!

Blog | Email | LinkedIn | Twitter | Website

*****

Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 4^th August and will be written by experienced HR professional Dawn Clarke.

Why performance review doesn't always work

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers for being so interactive with this feature.  We wanted Discuss HR to do exactly that and it is really pleasing to see all editions of Discuss HR still generating comments.  So thank you for reading!

So to the point at hand, this week Dawn Clarke returns and looks at the fear of giving and receiving constructive feedback.  The article is particularly relevant for me as I have to give constructive comments on a daily basis, but I know I am also not very good at receiving them! (Ed Scrivener)

Why performance review doesn’t always work

The HR department has designed a structured and supposedly objective framework for reviewing employee performance.  Managers have been trained and employees have also been briefed as to how to get the best out of the process.  All the paperwork has been explained to everyone who will be involved and as the Head of HR I am looking forward to a successful outcome.  Managers can look forward to improved performance as a result of the performance review and employees will have the opportunity to discuss their work and career aspirations.

Heaven! 

Well, not exactly.  I have yet to implement a framework where it all goes to plan and almost always find that the HR team will be ‘chasing’ managers for their completed paperwork.  Maybe it’s the formality of the whole process that turns people, managers and employees, against it.

Frank was slightly over-zealous with his feedback

Whatever the real reason, it would appear that performance review is a task that the majority of managers absolutely hate.  How many times have I heard ‘I’m too busy, I don’t have time’.  And it’s not just managers – employees either dread the meeting or treat it as a bit of a joke.  From the employee side I hear comments such as ‘it doesn’t matter what I say, it will still be what my manager says that gets written down’ or ‘can’t be bothered, it doesn’t achieve anything’ and even ‘my manager doesn’t like me so he’s just going to use the opportunity to pick on me again’.

The fact is that most managers are not comfortable giving objective feedback and they fear provoking a defensive response from the other person.  This is perfectly normal because the natural response to an attack, whether it is real or perceived, is to run away or attack back.  An innocuous comment made by the manager is perceived as a ‘threat’ by the employee and so the manager reviewing the performance finds him/herself being ‘attacked’ in return.  Alternatively, not engaging in the process is akin to the ‘running away’ response.

I believe it is this fear of conflict that is the key reason that many decent managers will often avoid giving honest feedback and of course this defeats the whole purpose of the process.  Whenever the employee’s performance is rated as less than the best, or less than the level at which they personally perceive their contribution, the manager is viewed as unfair or even punitive. Disagreement about contribution and performance ratings can create a conflict ridden situation that festers for months and many managers will prefer to avoid conflict that will undermine work place harmony.

However, if we don't know how to give constructive feedback we reduce our effectiveness as communicators.  Many people do not like to give negative feedback because they are afraid of a scene.  They are afraid of conflict and of what the other person might say back to them or might say about them at some future date.  The key to success is not to avoid such communications, but to become more effective in these communications by developing skills which can facilitate this process.

So what’s the answer to this perennial problem?

Many companies do train their managers in giving feedback however what does not happen so often is the training of employees in ‘receiving’ feedback.  Receiving feedback is an important part of the whole interaction and so training the ‘receiver’ is as important as training the manager if we are to ensure that the process adds value. 

Whenever I have had to work on a performance management project, I always make sure that individuals are trained in how to receive feedback without becoming defensive.  These are normally awareness sessions lasting about an hour so they don’t take up too much time away from the workplace.  I don’t go into lots of detail, rather I focus on a few key principles:-

• I encourage employees to see feedback as an opportunity to grow and improve.

• We discuss the natural response to a perceived attack is to counter-attack or opt out – just making them aware of this significantly improves the interaction

• If they don’t agree with the feedback, ask in a non aggressive way for more details

• Replay the scenario to the manager using your own thought processes – explain why you are doing it that way

The most important one I pass onto managers is that before you are able to confidently give feedback, you must learn how to take it and I take them through the points above.  If you can handle receiving feedback, you will be far more effective in giving it.  Being able to take feedback and learn from it is a vital part of self-development and in so doing the manager may learn from those he works with how to make things within the team better. 

Of course the big issue for me is around managing expectations.  A performance review cannot solve all problems or make everything better as there are limitations as to what can and cannot be achieved.

One thing is certain in terms of performance review.  It will never be effective until it is embraced by all parties and seen as a value add activity in that both parties feel that they get something out of it.  The challenge for HR therefore is not chasing the paperwork but working to facilitate the process so that it really does add value and this can be a time consuming activity.

I would be extremely interested to hear from anyone on this blog who has been involved in a truly successful process.  Is there a quicker way of achieving success?

About the author

Dawn is an experienced HR professional with strong development & internal consultancy experience. She takes a practical approach to HR turning strategic plans into operational reality. Dawn has experience in a variety of industries with a track record of commercial success by engaging people and making work a fun place to be. On a personal note she is a huge Liverpool fan, well someone has to be!

Email

*****

Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 16^th June.