The HR Hub

Have you been involved in 360 feedback? It sounds both informative and exposing. But better than a performance appraisal from a leader who may not be totally objective. I sat down with Jo Ayubi, the CEO of Track 360 Feedback. Jo's expertise in feedback consultancy and their software platform made her the perfect guide for 360 feedback. It's a powerful tool. Here's a sneak peek into our conversation: 🔎 These days we are concerned about HOW people get the job done, not just what they get done. Otherwise toxic behaviour will proliferate. 👥 Aim for at least 6-10 people providing feedback. ❌You can't let the ratee pick their raters. At least not entirely. ✅ It's a great development tool. ⁉️ For some reason, 360 feedback is about the only topic I remember from university. Jo knows her stuff - for the first time I tried a firing line (peppering my guest with quick questions) and she did great! Check it out at the links in the comment section!

Compensation is getting scrutinized. Pay transparency and job board policies (like Indeed's) are ensuring it gets a lot of attention. Sally Loftis of Loftis Partners has expertise in Organizational Development and social justice and particularly pay equity. She brings a unique perspective to our discussion breaking down the concept of pay equity, its importance, and why organizations sometimes unintentionally pay men more than women. She also shares insights on the legal implications of pay equity, how it impacts employee retention, and the role of compensation structures in achieving pay equity. In this episode, you'll discover: 🔍 How to approach pay equity with curiosity and an open mind. 🎯 The importance of employee feedback and participation in the pay equity process. 💼 The concept of consciously uncoupling performance ratings from pay and the potential benefits of this approach. 💡 Practical steps to embark on a pay equity project and the importance of normalizing conversations about pay in building trust. Follow Sally on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyloftisloftis/ Her site https://www.loftispartners.com/ Find the Pay Equity Collective at https://pay-equity-collective.mn.co/share/GTCEIh6yArceY6cY?utm_source=manual This is a link to her guide on conducting a pay equity assessment Find Andrea for SME consulting in Western Canada at thehrhub.ca

There's well over 60,000 books on Amazon about leadership. It sometimes feel like there's a new trend to concern ourselves about every time you go on LinkedIn. My guest this week, Corina Walsh, is keeping it real! She's a leadership coach and host of the People and Culture Success Show. She trains leaders and has a fresh perspective on the leadership trends and their implications for HR. In this episode, you'll learn about:🌐 The importance of HR professionals keeping abreast of leadership trends and how it influences decision-making at the executive table. 👥 Current leadership trends include remote work, artificial intelligence, and a shift towards transformational, people-focused leadership. 🔍 How to discern which trends are relevant and how to approach them in your organization. 💡 The foundational leadership skills that remain constant despite changing trends. A friend suggested I talk to Corina and she did not disappoint! Find Corina at shiftpd.com I (Andrea) do small and medium sized HR consulting in Western Canada.

Three questions: What makes your organization remarkable? How does this connect to its mission, vision and values?  Most important, how would you rate the alignment of your work and culture with the mission, vision and values?   This was what I spoke with Britni Eisenman, the founding principal of Stoke Fire about. Britni brings a unique perspective to the table, having transitioned from social work to advising CEOs on business strategy and organization development.   We explored how organizational alignment can and should significantly impact our HR practices and overall business success. Back  to the three questions above: do you decide what to do *and* what not to do based on your mission, vision and values?    Britni shared her insights on the importance of aligning your organization's values, mission, and actions: 🚦 When you’re making decisions aligned with your MVV she says you have ‘structural integrity’. 🔍 You wlll weather difficult storms if you have organizational alignment 🌉 Your organization is a bridge to your mission and how to handle the challenges that come your way. 🚀 We get tired of wordsmithing.  The words matter, however she has a different way of testing them.   ⚖️ HR is often the canary in the coal mine in recognizing when an organization is misaligned Find Britni at LinkedIn or on Stokefire.com Find Andrea for HR consulting in Western Canada at thehrhub.ca

This week's topic might make some of us break into a cold sweat - fostering healthy conflict at the workplace. I spoke with Kate Otting about this - as a mediator, she's adept at handling conflict. Kate is the head of Interaction Management Associates, specializing in mediation. She has an impressive career portfolio, having worked in South Africa, served as the Director of Mediation for the Iowa Peace Institute and the Arizona Attorney General, and currently holds the position of Director of Mediation for the City of Phoenix. In this episode, Kate shares her insights on: 🔍 Understanding when conflict is healthy and when it is harmful. Hint: it's harmful when it festers. 💡 Techniques to engage in conflict with confidence and compassion. Pretend you're watching it from a balcony! 🧘‍♀️ The role of patience and understanding in managing conflict. Patience can be hard when emotions are running high. 📚 Resources to help. This episode is a goldmine for HR professionals seeking to foster a culture of healthy conflict resolution at their workplaces. Check out the link in the comments to watch the full episode! Here are some links Kate has offered: IMA courses: imamediation.com/courses - save 30% on any course or bundle with promo code HRHUB Free downloadable tools: Listening skills checklist: https://bit.ly/listentool Checklist for becoming a mediator: https://bit.ly/newmediatorchecklist Open-ended questions workbook: https://bit.ly/open-ended-q How to Respectfully Disagree Like a Pro - workbook: https://bit.ly/IMAworkbook Find me at thehrhub.ca

How much have you thought about the ethical implications of AI in HR? It’s not alarmist to think that AI will enable HR to discriminate more and in new ways! After all, Amazon had to scrap their recruitment and selection AI because it was biased against women. This week I, again, spoke with Megan Marie Butler about AI in HR. She speaks plainly and is quite practical in her assessment of AI in HR. She is doing her PhD in the space, but is so frank and easy to understand! Her insights: 🎉 Most AI is legal! 👮‍♀️ It is all legal because there is so little regulation. 😩 Since it is unregulated, we can unknowingly cause significant social harm if we are not careful. Causing social harm could land us in legal hot water. 🤦🏾‍♂️ Megan provided a few examples of how AI is creating new classes of people to discriminate against. 😬 Regulation is coming. Even so, we are going to learn the hard way. Don’t be the cautionary tale. Find Megan on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganmariebutler/ or at ⁠bnmmb@leeds.ac.uk⁠ Find Andrea for consulting in Western Canada at thehrhub.ca

There's an intersection between tactics and strategy in HR. As we want our work to matter more and as we move through our careers, we need to understand the transition. The guest for this episode was Brittany Eisenman, the founding principal of Stokefire. With her unique career path from social work to advising CEOs, Brittany brought a fresh perspective to this! Some of that perspective includes: 🥵 Being busy busy busy will not get you involved in the strategy. See the video. 🎯 She thinks strategy when someone says 'tactics' 🔎 Watch for being too deep in the weeds! Sometimes you need to poke your head above the surface and look around. 💡 Use whatever data you have even if its limited! 🔄 Think about alignment. Deep alignment. SO SO good! Check it out at the links in the comments! Find Britni and stokefire.com or on LinkedIn Find Andrea for consulting in Western Canada at thehrhub.ca

Why is it so hard to find someone to talk about HR strategy? It's been something I've been trying to do for a long time now... and apparently it's complicated! Len Nanjad, however, was up to the task! He thinks deeply about HR strategy including how to deliver an HR strategy that balances the complexity of people with business strategy. He is also the guest on one of my most popular episodes! He says developing our strategy is similar to other parts of the business: First understand the business strategy. He gives us some guidance about how to think the product-market fit of HR - see the video below. We talk about how to consider all the things that employees think we should be doing and sometimes we want to do. We're not doing HR to do HR well. Not usually anyhow. If you read this far, I'm also looking for someone who's willing to teach HR about communications. It's not exactly our thing if we're in larger companies. But in smaller companies we are all they've got. If you know of someone willing to have this convo with me, let me know!

In HR we have to navigate the boundaries between us and leadership. We want to provide good service, but we can't enable leaders to avoid their responsibilities. This week's guest was Pam Schmidt. Pam, a leadership and organization development consultant, shared her experiences and insights on a common challenge in HR and offered some practical advice (and a little bit of spine!) Pam discussed: 2️⃣ Two ways leaders may approach HR that may be misguided: role clarity and team function. 🚩Why she sees these as 'red flags' and what could be going wrong underneath. 🫱 Her approach to supporting leaders 🤔 Why she thinks HR sometimes steps in anyhow. Ultimately it works best if leaders take responsibility for their team's dynamics. By tuning into this episode, you will learn about: 🔹The importance of leaders in handling challenging situations and setting clear expectations. 🔹The role of HR professionals in supporting leaders while maintaining their own boundaries. 🔹The significance of role clarity and team function in an organization. 🔹How to approach conflict and feedback in a leadership role. Find Pam on LinkedIn. Find Andrea at thehrhub.ca

In the world of HR, conflict resolution is an everyday thing. Employees frequently seek us out to help them resolve their conflict. Incorporating mediation for HR can help. Mediation skills are made of skills we already have. The thing that gets in our way is usually fear or discomfort around conflict. So you need to practice. Unfortunately. I actually went looking for someone to talk to about alternative dispute resolution. Mediation is one element but I'll have to cover other aspects of ADR later. However I found Kate Otting in the process. She is CEO of Interaction Management Associates and has led mediation groups all over. Currently she is the Director of Mediation for the City of Phoenix. She says: 😆Mediation may one of the few fields where mediocrity is the goal. See the video. ♾️The more we engage with conflict (notice I didn't say 'in'), the more adept we become at managing it. 💸Conflict is expensive x 10. I can only imagine how much time I've spent on conflict nevermind the entire econonmy. ⁉️ When is the last time an employee came in your office to vent? Here are some links Kate has offered: IMA courses: imamediation.com/courses - save 30% on any course or bundle with promo code HRHUBFree downloadable tools:Listening skills checklist: https://bit.ly/listentoolChecklist for becoming a mediator: https://bit.ly/newmediatorchecklistOpen-ended questions workbook: https://bit.ly/open-ended-qHow to Respectfully Disagree Like a Pro - workbook: https://bit.ly/IMAworkbook Find me at thehrhub.ca