The HR Hub

HR reporting and metrics are key tools for driving organizational  success, and it's up to us to use them effectively. It's good for the  organization, your career and our profession.     I conducted this follow-up interview with David Simmonds for HCM Metrics  to discuss data, metrics and reporting.  He helped develop the ISO  standards for HR reporting an said the following:   🪑 It's essential that we become proficient in reporting and metrics if  we want to earn or maintain our seat at the table. But it's not just  about impressing higher-ups - effective HR reporting can benefit the  entire organization.  ⁉️One important aspect to consider is that our reporting should be  focused on answering organizational questions, rather than our own. This  means that  asking ourselves what the business needs to know, and how  we can use data to provide those answers.  🏥 One metric that is often overlooked but can be incredibly valuable is  leadership trust. Trust is a crucial component of a healthy and  productive work environment, and measuring it can provide valuable  insights into the effectiveness of our leadership team. Find David at https://www.hcmmetrics.co.uk/   Find Andrea for HR Consulting in Western Canada at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

Recognition is a cheap and powerful tool to drive a positive culture, the employee AND customer experience, and a true sense of connection between employees and with the organization. Yet we don't do it or we don't do  it well.     Organizations create expensive rewards programs meant to recognize  employees. But, let's be clear, long service awards don't do a lot to  motivate great employee performance.    So how do we do it better?   That was the subject of this week's  interview with Sarah McVanel - recognition expert!  Well, of course she  has thoughts:  😾 Everyone does something well.  Don't avoid recognizing someone  because there's an aspect of their personality you dislike.  😩 Along the same lines, you'll find something positive to recognize  even in persistent complainers.   🤩 When the same people do the recognition and the same people get  recognized all the time... your program is failing.   🟢 It's everyone's job to participate in recognition not just the  leader. Find Sarah at greatnessmagnified.com   Find Andrea just to connect or for HR Consulting support (Western  Canada) via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

We all have different relationships with negotiation. It might make some  of us uncomfortable but it's a powerful everyday skill if we can  practice and apply the elements.   And it's relevant to HR beyond contracts.  Have you ever seen the  necessity of an approach or project but your clients hadn't bought in?   We often have little formal power in HR to mandate projects so  negotiation skills can be very helpful!  When I discovered that Susie  Tomenchok had written a book about it, of course I had to talk to her  about it.   And I learned a lot.  Some of it made me a bit uncomfortable and will  challenge me.  Other parts come easier.  It'll be the same from you.  Susie says: don't avoid it until you need it!    Did you know:  🌤 Any emotion will cloud your thinking, but you can make emotions  contingency plans!    🤔 Most of your effort in negotiation will be spent trying to see the  issue from their perspective.  🚫 No is a starting point.  🙊 We need to get comfortable with silence. Intrapreneurial Leadership and a link to the course:  https://www.cablecenter.org/intrapreneurship-academy-ia/intrapreneurial-leadership   Susie's Book:  The Art of Everyday Negotiation without Manipulation   Andrea provides consulting support. Find her at at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

Learning and development is, obviously, not all about training.  But you might think they do a lot more than they do.  This is a overview of all of  L&D with many useful tips for seasoned HR professionals in addition  to those with a specific interest.   Irina Ketkin is an L&D professional who teaches Udemy courses on the  subject and has a YouTube channel as well - the L&D Academy.    This video covers a more accurate view of L&D with some tips you ,  the keys to L&D success and, my favourite, some of the adult  learning principles.  I will be applying her tips in the the future and  some are sure to resonate with you:   - Only 10% of learning occurs in training (this is not an adult learning  principle, but still useful!)   - Adults are focused on achieving goals when they attend training   - Adults use their life experiences to help them learn and remember   - Adults are more self-directed in their learning   - Adults like to have choice in how they learn  These few tips will help me improve future training.  They'll probably  help you too!

Will it make a difference if you can say "time-to-hire has improved 2.5%  compared to this time last year"?  Of course we can create more complex  or creative metrics like  'retention rate per manager' or 'HR cost per  employee'.  Still... are they really helpful?   The thing is, metrics measure the past. We track these things to make  sure we are efficient and accountable.  They rarely tell us about the  strategic things we should be doing.     This is what I spoke with David Simmonds about.  He is the Chairman of  HCM Metrics and an early supporter of the HR ISO standard.  I didn't  even know there was an ISO standard for HR!     ∞ With a decent HRIS you could measure a million things.  How do you  pick?   🤔 The ISO standards will provide insight on what you should measure.    🥱 While I am a bit tired of the expression 'a seat at the table', it  still had meaning and HR data plays a big role in getting and staying  there.  We have a wealth of data.  Are we using it to track the past or  provide useful insight into business problems and solutions?   🗣 We need to speak their language. See it from the perspective of  business problems.   Find David on LinkedIn or at https://www.hcmmetrics.co.uk/   Find Andrea for consulting support in Canada at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

Telling your employees to get well through nutrition, sleep and exercise  and demanding they work extra every day is like telling them to eat cake  and only giving them celery. You aren't serious.    The work environment has a huge impact on wellbeing - particularly  asking too much of people.   Linda Duxbury is Canada's leading expert on employee wellbeing. She's  done national studies involving tens of thousands of people. She has a  lot to say on the subject and it does not include telling employees to  get more sleep.  As the video below says, she refuses employers who want  her to talk to employees.  She wants to talk to the EMPLOYER.     And she cleared up some things for me:  ❌ Unequivocally, time at work or in front of a computer is a terrible  measure of productivity.  ⤵ Productivity rises, plateaus and falls.  The point at which it starts  to fall depends on the person and the demands on their time.    🧐 To truly improve wellbeing, employers need to consider the demand  they put on their employees.  📣 We need to stop paying so much attention remote workers who want to  stay remote or hybrid.  We need to pay attention to all the the people  who have to show up in person.  Their morale post pandemic is terrible.     This should be required content.  The amount of insight... 😯 As she said during the interview, Linda doesn't really do social media but you can find her by googling!     Find Andrea for HR consulting or just a connection at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

This episode is for students!  Membership in your HR association has  benefits and, if you can capitalize on them, it can be very helpful in  landing your first HR job after university.     I spoke with Ioana Giurca who is the CEO of CPHR Alberta.  Even if you  don't live in Alberta... check out what your own association has to  offer students!  After all, you are the future of the profession and  we've all been in your shoes trying to get that first job.  Chances are  that support is offered - look for some of the following:   🙋‍♀️ Mentorship.  Is there a professional who would guide you and act  as a sounding board?    ☕️ One-on-on meetings.  If mentorship is too much or you can't find one,  someone would be willing to have coffee with you.    ✍️ Resume writing.  There is no where better than your HR Association to  get help writing resumes.  After all, we are the experts.    👋 Networking opportunities.  The thought of networking always  intimidated me, but if you can be brave enough  and hone your own  approach, it WILL pay dividends.     👏 Volunteer.  It's also a clue to an employer about your intentions and  commitment.     Not all associations will offer free memberships (although Alberta  does).  Whatever your association offers, makes use of it!     CPHR Alberta: https://www.cphrab.ca/   Student Links:  https://www.cphrab.ca/student-toolkit  https://www.cphrab.ca/become-member/student-member  https://www.cphrab.ca/walk-and-talk-program  https://www.cphrab.ca/mentorship-program     Find Andrea at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

Soft skills is a misnomer.  These skills are so critical to your success  that 'power skills' is far more appropriate.     The concept adds a lot of value to our careers in HR as well as the work  we do! Focusing on the right power skills can help us create more  effective organizations through skills development, identify the right  high potential employees and create meaningful training programs.    Susie Tomenchok teaches a course on power skills with the  Intrapreneurship Academy. I have seen other iterations of 'power skills'  but I think Susie is onto something with the ones she includes in her  course.  They are:    1. Lead with your strengths.  2. Take the time to clarify your purpose, vision, and values.  3. Take control of how you are perceived.  4. Corporate politics isn’t about manipulation.  5. Don’t be afraid of feedback, both giving and receiving.  6. Self-advocacy is essential to achieving goals.  7. Building a strong network makes you a valuable resource.   Few of us are good at most or all of these... imagine what would happen  if you were!

We all want to move forward in our career path and sometimes that is up.   Sometimes that is sideways, which is why 'lattice' is better term for  how to view careers. I am definitely on the lattice path! 😅    Dianna Dempsey is an expert in career pathing/ladders/lattices.  She  gives us advice on how to do it although, truthfully, many times... it  depends.  We also talked about how to make use of the phrase in HR and  development.  Some tips:   👆We need to stop talking about 'moving UP the ladder' and reinforcing  the idea that only up is moving forward.  Lateral moves may still be a  progression.   ❌Some of us are not cut out to be leaders at least not in the  conventional sense.     ⚙️ Of course that is true... so we talk about how to approach the  conversation for people in a technical stream.     ⚖️ Realistically we cannot do career pathing for everyone. We have to  strike a balance between career pathing for organizations and those for  individuals. Find Dianna at https://www.linkedin.com/in/diannadempsey/   Find Andrea at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/

🥱 Leadership is stagnating... they got successful and stopped learning.  (Stagnation) 🤬 Structure and rules are four-letter words.  (Chaos)   🙊 People in one department don't talk to people in another. (Silos)   🤷🏻‍♀️ "Work on what you think is important." (Permissive Leadership)   These are all forms of dysfunction at work and usually aren't helpful to  organization success. Often they start at the top with senior  leadership!  Which makes it that much harder to address.    Anne Dranitsaris and Heather Dranitsaris-Hilliard from Caliber  Leadership Systems like helping organizations with their dysfunctions  and have tips and strategies on what to do about it.      ➡️ You don't have to start with senior leadership.    ➡️ HR has little position authority.  You need to influence people to  help them get them unstuck.   ➡️ Start with systems not behaviour.  Changing behaviour can be  overwhelming.     ➡️ Meet leaders where they are at not where you think they should be.    ➡️ Dysfunction is addressed in stages.  You don't flip a switch.   Anne and Heather are remarkably insightful and provide useful advice! Dismantling Dysfunction Podcast: www.dismantlingdysfunction.com  Website: www.dranitsaris-hilliard.com / www.caliberleadership.com  YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/DranitsarisHilliard   Find Andrea on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-adams1/