The HR Hub

Have you had a great mentor? It was really helpful right? And if it was helpful to you, wouldn't it be powerful for organizations? So, finally, I have covered mentoring - and with a global leader in mentoring! It's been on my list for quite a while and so I was delighted to talk to Dr. Laura Lunsford. She wrote the book "Handbook for Managing Mentoring Programs" and she was a pleasure to talk to! She knows it inside and out and some of what she shared includes: 🌱🤝 We think mentoring needs to be organic, but programs DO work. Even when you artificially link two people who might not have formalized a relationship otherwise, you can have great results. The caveat: you must be clear about the purpose! See the video below. 🗣️🤔 There's more debate around mentorship than you'd think. If you and I tried to define mentoring we would likely get different answers! ❌ Mentoring and coaching aren't the same thing. 🙏 Back to my first point: There is a reason young professionals want a mentor: it's because they know how powerful it can be for their career. Take note HR: helping a career will help the organization. Dr. Lunsford's Book: The Mentor's Guide: Five Steps to Build a Successful Mentor Program Other resources: The International Mentoring Association https://www.mentoringassociation.org/ The European Mentoring & Coaching Council https://www.emccglobal.org/ Brad Johnson: Athena Rising The Center for Mentoring Excellence https://www.centerformentoring.com/ I (Andrea) am available for HR consulting in Western Canada. Email me at andrea@thehrhub.ca

Hi HR. Are you tired of making presentations, only to feel like you did everything right but it still fell flat? And you don't know what you did! Ugh! This is part of what I went to find when I did this interview. In our discussion, we dive deep into the key pieces that truly elevate your presentation game. Brenden Kumarasamy was my partner in this discussion. He has his own youtube channel called MasterTalk on public speaking. He says: 🎙️ Practice the parts that matter. And you'll be surprised by what that is. 🎯 Focus on the presentation that matter - you don't need to practice all of them. 📊 Slide decks aren't in - or out! 🚀 Practice will a solid start which creates momentum in the moment! Whether you're a seasoned speaker or just starting out, these insights will transform your approach to presentations.

Ever wondered how to get promoted? 🤔 Don't wait for someone else to do something about it! You will have to put yourself 'out there' and advocate for yourself! This week's guest, Laura Terrell is a coach and advises her clients on how to make partner or get promoted. Before this her promotions include a trip as special advisor to the President in the White House so she knows a thing or two! 🌟 Her wisdom in this episode includes: 🔹 Question Everything: Want that promotion? You've got to ask the right questions of the right people. 🔹 Ladies, Listen Up: Apply for the job even if you don't check every box. Your potential is far greater than a checklist. 🔹 Be Your Biggest Advocate: Embrace a role as your own PR person. Familiarize yourself with your accomplishments. 🔹 Seize Your Moment: Waiting for someone to tap you on the shoulder? Don't. 🔹 Context Matters: Sometimes, it's not about you. It's about the environment, the team, or the situation. You might need to leave. Find Laura at lauraterrell.com Find me (Andrea) at thehrhub.ca for HR support in Western Canada

I did an episode on ROI in HR!!! That's return on investment. I found someone who knows a lot about it and it was a good opportunity to understand how we might do this in HR! Even HR can leverage standard financial techniques to analyze our projects and make our case. This was the conversation I had with Evelyn McMullen from Nucleus research. She is NOT a finance, business or economics major and maybe this is why she is pretty good at explaining it! She says: 🔔 When you are thinking about the bells and whistles... remember there is no ROI on things we don't actually use. ∞ ROI is greatest when a task is repetitious and applies to a wide range of people. Think payroll. 🤩 Often, we tend to rely on intangible benefits like "increased employee happiness" when promoting our projects. While these are valid considerations, but ROI is better. Find Evelyn at Nucleus Research https://nucleusresearch.com/ She mentioned an ROI Tool (free!): nucleusresearch.com/research/single/nucleus-research-standard-roi-calculator/ She mentioned ROI University: https://nucleusresearch.com/roi-university/ Ian Campbell (her boss) published a book on called the Value Sale. Find it on Amazon. You can also reach out to me for HR consulting in Western Canada! www.thehrhub.ca

So don't do an HR audit if you think anything less than an A+ is failure. We don't assign grades, but an absence of suggestions leave no opportunity for growth. I suppose you might want an A+ for the purposes of a certification, but that's not what I explored this week with Elissa Lok. Elissa has one of the most diverse skillsets of any HR person I know. She is an HR Consultant with HR Wests, a facilitator of Spacemakers and a trainer. She also does audits. She says: 🤭 Don't be embarassed! We all have our own journeys including our HR functions... It's an opportunity to learn and get a sense of priorities. 🤷🏻‍♀️ You won't make decision in an HR audit. It's really just a summary of risks, opportunities and strengths. 🛞 You can structure it following the employee lifecycle. From recruitment to departures. ≠ A large sophisticated business will not get the same audit as a small business. We are all trying to improve, but obviously starting in different places. Find Elissa at elissa@hrwest.ca or at Spacemakers Canada https://www.spacemakersgroup.ca/ Reach out to Andrea for HR consulting at andrea@thehrhub.ca

Let's talk about handling those "difficult" employees we encounter at work. You know, the ones who seem to make our lives a bit more 'interesting'? 😅 We're supposed to be giving advice in HR, but sometimes it's hard for us to know! I spoke with Emily Lord, Senior HR Consultant with HR West. She is a master of reframing (not spinning) and handling people with decency. She recognizes these are tough and says: 1️⃣ Oops! Mis's Happen: Miscommunications. Mistakes. Misunderstandings. Watch for them and don't be afraid to acknowledge them! 2️⃣ Shine a Light on Blind Spots: Ever had a team member genuinely miss a problem? This is when performance management is most likely to work well. 3️⃣ Reflecting on Leadership: Sometimes it's not the employee and we have to walk a fine line in HR. 4️⃣ Don't Wait, Take the Plunge: Procrastination won't solve anything, my friends. Don't let probation pass knowing there's a problem to solve! Find Emily at emily@hrwest.ca for HR consulting!

Discover impactful exercises to enhance your public speaking skills, avoiding the cliches. Brendan Kumarasamy shares practical tips through his experience as a public speaking coach. Confidence plays a crucial role in effective communication. Appreciating differences leads to personal growth. Consistent practice is key to improving public speaking skills. Don't miss out on this opportunity to transform your presentation skills!

I am a bit tired of how HR uses retention to justify everything from benefits and employee relations to our budget and training. And... I might be somewhat out-of-line. :/ This is why I went looking for someone to talk to about turnover and retention and found Cara Silletto, Chief Retention Officer at Magnet Culture. She is a retention expert and speaker, and wrote a book on it. She says: 🥱"People join organizations and quit their bosses." The tired cliche (or at least it's 'tired' in my mind) is at least partly true. What might be more accurate, is that managers can do a whole lot to drive down turnover. 🧑🏽 Managers play the biggest role in retention so anything we can do to support their skills and capacity is likely to have retention benefits. 📈 What constitutes high turnover depends on the role. However, on average, tenure is decreasing regardless of the role. 🙏 Once again... recognition. It comes up again and again across so many of my interviews. Find Cara at https://www.magnetculture.com/ Find Andrea for HR consulting in Western Canada at www.thehrhub.ca

Workplace culture is crucial for high performance and a big part of that is psychological safety: can your employees express themselves without fear of negative consequences? Stephan Weidner, coach and CEO of Zarango and Noomii, took me to task when I asked (on behalf of my husband) if this means we have to talk about feelings a lot more. The answer is yes. Yes: we need to talk about feelings, but we don't have to become therapists. Other tidbits from Stephan: 🟰 He sees psychological safety as a proxy for high performance because there is considerable evidence about the correlation. 1️⃣ Google conducted a significant study that found psychological safety to be the #1 predictor of the teams they rated as high performing. 🍁 Canadians beware! Politeness is not psychological safety! This was a great conversation - I definitely built on my previous knowledge and I'm sold! Thanks Stephan!

Improving the employee experience can be done in 5 steps. I didn't say easy - but it also isn't that hard considering that step 1 is simply to CARE. I interviewed Prem Bhatia from Cooleaf this week. He's the cofounder of a platform designed around improving the employee experience (EX) and they live and breathe it. He said: 1️⃣ Recognition has an outsized impact on employee engagement. So don't forget that piece - it can go a long way for relatively little cost. 2️⃣ As I said at the beginning of this, you need to truly care. It's not something that will work if you're half-hearted. 3️⃣ Tech can help. EX is ultimately a totally human thing, but tech can improve communication, integrate platforms, and just make it easier. 4️⃣ It's good business: Beyond the inherent value of caring for our employees, investing in the employee experience is also a smart business move. Research consistently shows that organizations with highly engaged employees outperform their competitors. Find Prem at Cooleaf www.cooleaf.com Find Andrea for HR consulting at www.thehrhub.ca