The Big Black Hole?

Is HR the job-seeker's nightmare? The big black hole into which resumes disappear and are never heard from again? Are you the exception to this new rule?

Daily interaction with individuals who are going through career transitions corroborates comments made by Liz Ryan in her column on BusinessWeek Online. One of the biggest, if not the biggest frustration expressed by job seekers that I work with is the lack of response to resumes and / or applications. Those companies who acknowledge receipt of resumes or send letters indicating an applicant's status in the process have become the pleasant surprise in a job search, the exception to the norm.

Many members of Senior Management consider HR a support function with no real interaction with customers or direct impact on the bottom line. Quite frankly the opposite may be true. HR may have the opportunity to connect with hundreds if not thousands of potential customers every year through the recruiting process. Job seekers notice and remember how they are treated during the search process. What value may a simple acknowledgement have on your bottom-line? Are your company's recruiting efforts negatively impacting the company?

Like Ms. Ryan, we would love to hear from companies who have made it a priority to respectfully acknowledge and communicate with job seekers. How have you been able to make it happen? What type of systems have you put in place?

To read Ms. Ryan's entire column as posted on BusinessWeek Online click here: The Courtesy of a Reply


Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group

"If I Only Had A Heart"

Upon reading the First Annual Global Leadership Study by the Mercer Delta Executive Learning Center, many organizations may begin singing the familiar tune, "If I Only Had a Heart" from "The Wizard of Oz". As it turns out, the combination of traits desired L. Frank Baum's endearing Wizard of Oz characters, The Scarecrow, The Tinman and The Cowardly Lion, may together describe the profile of today's successful business leader.

According to the study, Senior Executives identified today's successful leader as multi-dimensional; possessing three key competencies. Mercer Delta Executive Learning Center catagorized these competencies as Head, Heart and Guts. This is a transformation from the past when the "Head" won out and the smartest guy in the room became the leader. Today's business environment requires a more complex, multi-dimensional leader.

If only today's HR and OD professionals could simply click their heels together to develop the initiatives to assist their companies in achieving the right blend of leadership characteristics, or like the Great and Powerful Oz, simply look into their little black bag of tricks. Instead it appears to be a long ardous journey down the yellow brick road, with many unexpected challenges along the way.

To read more about the Mercer study click here: Effective Leadership Development Critical to Corporate Performance and Competitive Advantage

Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group

The First 90 Days - Book Review

I just finished reading the book The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins. I found this book to be very thought provoking, yet it provided practical information. Throughout the book, Watkins identifies ways in which a leader can accelerate the transition process after being hired or promoted to a new position. While surveying CEO’s, he found it will take the average leader 6 months before they begin to create value within an organization. What does this cost an organization? How much money will be saved by reducing that timeframe?

To accelerate the transition process (and prevent failure), Watkins thoroughly discusses several important items new leaders should remember:

Promote Yourself – Are you adopting the right mind-set for your new job and letting go of the past?

Accelerate your Learning – Are you figuring out what you need to learn, from whom to learn it and how to speed up the learning process?

Match Strategy to Situation – Are you diagnosing the type of transition you are facing and the implications for what to do and what not to do?

Secure Early Wins – Are you focusing on vital priorities that advance long-term goals and build short-term momentum?

Negotiate Success – Are you building your relationship with your new boss, managing expectations and assembling the resources you need.

Achieve Alignment – Are you identifying and fixing misalignments of strategy, structure, systems and skills?

Build Your Team – Are you assessing, restructuring and aligning your team to leverage what you are trying to accomplish.

Create Coalitions – Are you building a base of internal and external support for your initiatives?

In summary, I found this book to be very easy to read, informational and simply a great reminder for all leaders. Whether you are starting a new position, recently promoted or taking on additional responsibilities in your existing role, this book provides a great tool to help you achieve success. A must read for every professional!

For more information on this book: The First 90 Days




Posted by Stacie Schneider, Consultant, The H.S. Group, Inc.

The Price of Motherhood

Sleepless nights. Bidding personal time farewell. There is a never-ending list that comes along with the awesome responsibility a woman undertakes when she decides to become a mother. Between late-night feedings and loads upon loads of laundry, mothers may begin to feel more like the maid than Mary Poppins.

And just when everything is “under control” on the homefront, all mothers must make a very personal decision: When is the right time to return to work? The choice may have to do with a lot more than just the children. Women must also ask themselves: Is my job still going to be there for me if I decide to take an extended leave? Will the company’s needs change while I am away? Has my career focus shifted now that children are in the picture? And at what salary will I be re-entering the workforce?

"On average, according to the survey participants, a woman actually loses 18% of her income on reentry," says Sylvia Ann Hewlett, founding president of the Center for Work-Life Policy. If the woman is out of the workforce for three years or more, the cost can be up to 38%. But women don't just lose money, they also tend to lose their ambition. Not good for the women, not good for the employers they want to serve. Moreover, the study of the participants who had re-entered the working world reported that 61% changed industries, 54% changed functional roles, 83% accepted a position at a comparable or lower level, and 45% are self-employed.

Consider the impact these statistics may have on your organization. What effect, if any, will this have on fathers in similar situations?

Click here to read Thomas Iole’s full article,
Trend Alert: The Cost of the Mommy Track

Posted by Shelly Paul, Career Management Coordinator, The H.S. Group

Boomers, Don't Drain my Brain!

Companies are finding it particularly challenging to find qualified, skilled employees to replace retiring employees. Why? Haven’t you heard? Baby boomers are on the verge of retirement!

Baby boomers comprise the largest generation in American history and they are starting to leave the workforce. On top of this, they are expected to take their knowledge with them. Companies need to develop plans to deal with the labor shortage and “brain drain” head-on. You can start by teaming up with management and those close to retirement to address these critical questions: Read More

Posted by Amy Dennis, Career Management Coordinator, The H.S. Group

How to Get a Seat at the Executive Table

How can HR improve its credibility? That was the question of the day on the 19th - have you come up with any answers? Strategic HR is not an uncommon term and is often related to HR's goal of becoming a part of the executive team. How does HR get a seat at the head table?

Do you influence your company's direction? Contribute to the corporate discussion about customers, products and strategy? Are you a participant in senior level meetings? Do managers seek your opinion? We want to know what has and hasn't worked in making HR a part of the executive team. To read tips that will fast forward your career or keep you sitting at the executive table, click the following link:
How to Get a Seat at the Executive Table

Posted by Nancy Ledvina, HR Consultant, The H.S. Group

How Can HR Improve Its Credibility

"I've been telling the President that for years - now someone else says the same thing and all of a sudden they are a genius and everyone is listening to them."

If you're in HR the above feeling may be very familiar. How many times have you said those same words to a colleague, friend or spouse? So why is it that companies hire HR professional to serve as experts in their field but then don't listen to what HR has to say? If you are in HR how do you get your ideas through to the business unit leaders? Why is it that after all these years, in many companies, HR does not yet have "a seat at the table"?

There are key actions that HR professionals can take to ensure their voices are heard and that they have real input into the business. A few of those actions are:

• KNOW THE BUSINESS! The bottom-line is that you need to understand the bottom-line and how the company got there. Know what is going on in the industry as a whole and how that is impacting your company.
• Embrace the company's overall strategic objectives and develop HR strategies that link directly to and support the overall business. Present those strategies in terms of how they will contribute to the company's goals.
• Be proactive. While being responsive to the needs and requests of internal customers is critical it is equally critical to develop proactive HR business strategies and initiatives that make some of the requests unnecessary. Don't wait for another department to define your workload.
• Identify and selectively utilize outside experts who can help you reposition HR's potential role within the company. Learn from them and partner with them to gain the ear of your senior leadership team.

These all sound obvious and simplistic. If that is true, why is it still a struggle for HR professionals to be respected as business people? Why does HR not have more credibility with senior leadership teams?

We would love to hear from both those of you have have successfully created partnerships with your company's senior leadership team and from those who are still struggling to get there.

Those of you who have gained the infamous seat at the table - How did you get there? What is different now about HR and how HR is perceived? What advice would you give other HR professionals trying to reach the same level of professional credibility?

Those that are struggling to break out of the old HR (or worse yet - personnel) mold - What obstacles are you encountering? What have you tried without success? What would you like to learn from your peers who have made the transition?

Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group

You Can't Come to Work Because of What???

"I forgot I was getting married today."

"The ghosts in my house kept me up all night."

"My son accidentally fell asleep next to wet cement in our backyard. His foot fell in and we can't get it out."

These are among the examples of creative excuses for missing work cited in a recent article on CareerBuilder.com. The article also cited statistics including:

"43% of the workers responding admitted that they had called in sick at least once in the past year when they actually felt well. That was up from 35% in 2004."

"38% of workers said they viewed sick days the same as vacation days."

Managers are not quite as naive as employees seem to think. Almost 1/4 of the hiring managers responding to the survey indicated they had fired an employee for missing work without a legitimate reason. And 63% indicated they are more suspicious of workers calling in on Monday or Friday.

Are work absences on the increase? If so, why? Are workers becoming less loyal? Have work ethics deteriorated?

What are you seeing in your company?

To read the entire article by Rosemary Haefner as posted on CareerBuilder.com click here: 15 Excuses For Calling In Sick

By the way, as you are hiring your next new employee you might stop to ask yourself if they were a survey participant . . .just a thought.

Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group

What Does It Take to Be a Great Company to Work For?

Fortune Magazine recently announced its 2006 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. Again this year, the pressures of globalization and the high cost of health care benefits have required that companies continue to find new ways to be perceived by their employees as a great place to work. What are they doing? What elements are defining the new standards of a great place to work?

- In 1999 only 18 companies allowed telecommuting; now 79 do.
- In 1999 only 25 offered compressed workweeks, today 81 do.
- Most of the 100 offer personal concierge services, take-home meals, and free or subsidized lunches.
- Timberland gives employees $3000 to buy a hybrid vehicle.

None of the items listed above should be a surprise. While benefits like these evolve and change over time there are two elements of being a great place to work that have never changed and never will; trust and recognition.

Companies that are struggling with developing sophisticated and complicated retention strategies to address pending workforce changes might be well served taking a lesson from these great companies. You don't have to get fancy, you don't have to spend a great deal of money. Start with the most basic of all, trust and recognition. If those elements aren't in place you might as well forget the rest.

To read Geoff Colvin's complete article from Fortune click here: The 100 Best Companies to Work For 2006

Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group

$how Me The Money

According to an article by Anne Fisher posted on fortune.com, 2006 may be a happy new year for job seekers.

In a recent survey of work related resolutions nearly one-quarter of employees responding indicated they hope to make more money this year. Employees were two and a half times more likely to want a pay hike than to earn a promotion. According to the survey, women more often than men put getting a raise first, while men were more likely to want a new job.

For the past two to three years we have been hearing the experts say that employees were becoming disgruntled and more likely to be actively seeking a new job. The importance of implementing pro-active retention strategies has been cited as critical for companies. Could 2006 be the year in which all of the predictions begin to come to fruition? Could it be too late for companies to take steps to retain their best talent?

This may be the year in which employment shifts back to a seller's market. Those companies who have been reading the statistics regarding the Emergent Workforce, the changing demographics and changing priorities of today's employees but steadfastly believing "it won't happen here" may be in for a surprise. Roger Herman, CEO of the Herman Group has said "there seems to be more talk than action when it comes to retaining employees." As a result, his organization predicts that retention strategies will become defensive reactions to skyrocketing attrition rates rather than being proactive and preventive. According to Herman, ". . .those employers who take pre-emptive action now will have the competitive advantage."

What is the climate in your company? Are you vulnerable to a significant talent defection? Are your best employees busy getting their resume into the hands of recruiters? If so, are you positioned competitively to attract new talent?

Or . . .is it much ado about nothing???

Click here to read Anne Fisher's full article A happy new year for job seekers as posted on fortune.com.


Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group

Are More Companies Taking a Stand on Offensive Behaviors occurring Outside of the Office?

One of the more sensitive elements of Human Resources' role can be the need to address offensive behavior. What constitutes offensive? Where do the boundaries lie?

As evidenced by Morgan Stanley's recent firing of four employees after they accompanied a client to a strip club (click here to read Morgan Stanley Fires Four After Strip Club Visit as posted on today.reuters.com) the boundaries clearly extend well beyond the workplace. This has been reinforced numerous times by court rulings in hostile work environment cases.

Clearly, "looking the other way" in the name of "just having a little fun" is not acceptable. Yet, time and time again I have found myself across the table or desk from individuals at all levels, male and female, who were shocked that anyone could be offended when they were just trying to have a little fun and even more shocked that the company felt that it was its business.

Does this action by Morgan Stanley indicate that executives and companies alike are getting less tolerant of potentially offensive behavior and more sensitive to the need to protect the company's assets and image? Or, is this the exception and is there a pervasive belief that "what happens outside of the office stays outside of the office"?

What are you seeing in your company? Are there discrepancies in what is seen as acceptable behavior in the office compared to behavior outside of the office? What boundaries are being set by your company?

Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group

Leadership Development - How Leaders Learn

Many organizations have identified Leadership Development as an important strategic initiative for the coming year(s). That being said, how are companies approaching Leadership Development? A recent article on fastcompany.com provided survey data regarding the most widely used learning methods in this field. Of note is the growth in the three methods widely regarded as especially effective:

1. Use of Senior Executives as Faculty
2. Action Learning
3. Use of External Executive Coaches

Some thoughts on each:

Use of Senior Executives as Faculty - What better way to demonstrate that everyone in the organization is going to both "talk the talk and walk the walk"? To be effective this must be regarded by senior management as more than just putting in an appearance. Encouraging senior executives to be open and share their own developmental experiences as well as their knowledge and insights regarding the business can create an extremely powerful learning experience for the participants.

Action Learning - Participants in Leadership Development initiatives are busy people. While they are engaged in their developmental activity business is going on without them. Most probably do believe that the developmental efforts are important but it can be difficult to focus when the perception also exists that the content is more theoretical than practical. Incorporating work on real business issues is a must in order to retain the attention of today's busy leader.

Use of External Executive Coaches - Once labeled as just another Leadership Development fad and a method reserved for the most senior executives in the largest of companies, coaching has continued to grow and its use has broadened to all levels of leadership in all sizes of organizations. Use of an external coach provides the leader with an objective sounding board, someone who is separate from the internal politics and culture of the organization. An external coach should not be viewed as a threat by internal development consultants but as a resource that can be used to enhance and solidify the internal development initiatives. By working in partnership an external coach and an internal training and development consultant can deliver impactful leadership development that truly makes a difference to the company and its future.

How is your company approaching Leadership Development? What methods have you found to be most effective? What methods have not worked for you?

To read Jim Bolt's entire article "How Leaders Learn" as posted on fastcompany.com, click here: How Leaders Learn

Posted by Denise Knutson, Senior Consultant, The H.S. Group