The last two years of the pandemic have been horrible, but I’ve learned a lot that I’d like to share with you. As we recover, I’ve never ceased to be amazed that practically every person I’ve talked to in HR is better than me at something. If you’re like me, you’ve discovered that: There are better leaders, listeners, relationship builders, conflict diffusers, influencers, mentors and employee grievance handlers. It’s simple. Learn from them. Steal ideas from them. Apply them to your life. Now, don’t forget to give them full credit when using their wisdom. And you’ll be amazed at how much faster you’ll grow and how much better you’ll get. To that end, here are five things I’ve learned (and stolen) over the past two years from folks smarter than me. During this pandemic, I’ve received great advice from lots of highly successful HR leaders who have been forced to work from home. Let’s face it. Things will never be the same. Many organizations who would have never considered it, have become passionate advocates of remote work. Consequently, more of us will be working from home — or working from anywhere — even after this pandemic has passed. With that reality, comes this point: If you haven’t already, you may need to re-engineer the workspace in your home. You’ll soon find out that using your kitchen counter as your primary workspace on a regular basis won’t cut it! That sudden pain in your neck or lower back will be a dead giveaway that it’ll be time for a change. The solution is to have at least one dedicated work area. It should be free from distraction, offering a semblance of privacy for important phone calls, conference call meetings and working on priority projects. If possible, it should be a room not used for other purposes that can become your office. That’s not all. You’ll also need a comfy chair and desk, both cozy enough to use for several hours. And there’s more. You should plan to switch things up by moving your dedicated workspace to a different location once in a while! For example, instead of sitting inside in your designated office or workspace toiling away on lower priority activities — move to your yard or to a different room every couple of hours. Moving around is going to help to re-energize you, make you more productive and you won’t be bored by looking at the same surroundings all the time. Great point, but how do you increase your workspace mobility? Enter the lap desk, which will allow you to move around easily and help you stay focused and comfortable. iSkelter’s popular original design has been copied heavily over the years. It can accommodate a mouse, phone and other items in an upright position as it sits on your lap. There are lots of lap desk options and styles to choose from, including those with short legs and different organization areas. I’ve stuck with the original, and prefer the Comfy Lite, which can handle a left- or right-handed mouse, includes a wrist pad, and has a groove in the back for a range of tablets or phones. The added benefit of an average-sized lap desk is being able to store it in a closet or under the bed when you’re not using it. Most should be portable and light enough to carry from room to room throughout the day. There’s a lot here. But hopefully, you’ll find all this stolen advice as helpful as I have. Laurie Reuttimann authored a book called Betting on You: How to Put Yourself First and (Finally) Take Control of Your Career. I’ve followed Laurie all the way from her days as owner of the Punk Rock HR blog. Today, she’s a well-known speaker, author and consultant. Laurie often tells the story about getting advice from her boss earlier in her career when she was a corporate HR leader. He strongly suggested that if she wanted to be taken seriously in HR that she should get SPHR certified. So, she did. The whole process took her about nine weeks. The result…Nobody on her job cared two craps that she passed the exam! Her experience was a stark reminder of a similar episode in my career. In my case, decades ago when I left Purdue with my master’s in Industrial Relations and Human Resources, I felt on top of the world. And, in my first real HR job, I didn’t hesitate to tout my business school credentials. And, like Laurie, I found out nobody gave a rip. In fact, the more I talked about grad school, the more people ignored me. I didn’t start getting any REAL respect on the job until I got my freakin’ head out of the clouds, hunkered down and started getting stuff done. Stuff that really mattered. There’s an important point here. It doesn’t make any difference if you have a genius IQ, plus an MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CCP and a PhD in Human Resources (if such a degree exists). You won’t make meaningful career progress in the real world without taking action and producing results. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a biggest advocate on the planet for beefing up your HR credentials and engaging in constant professional development until the day you die. However, doing these things guarantee you nothing. The reason you do them is that they will make you a more confident and capable HR professional. That’s all. There’s a huge difference between KNOWING HOW to do something and ACTUALLY DOING IT WELL. Knowledge, capability, skill and intelligence are not all that important without action and proven results to validate them. It’s just that simple. These were words of wisdom passed on at Future HR Leaders Seminar in Chicago by Theo Killion. Theo is a former SVP Human Resources at Macy’s, Lane Bryant and Tommy Hilfiger — who later became the CEO at Zale. Let me tell you, meeting an HR guy who became the chief executive at a Fortune 1000 company is about as common as seeing a purple cow. When asked how the heck do you transition from HR leader to CEO. He said: “It’s simple. Stay relevant and avoid getting trapped only learning what only applies to your organization or what applies to HR.” “It’s imperative that you stay ahead of the curve by getting outside of your company and comfort zone regularly. Know your business cold. Use your finance counterparts to learn how to assess the P&L impact of everything you do. Learn new ideas. Meet new people working on interesting, leading-edge projects outside of HR and to build relationships with them.” “Go to training sessions on topics like finance, business development and marketing that make you uncomfortable — especially if you’re the only HR person there! By doing this, I stayed relevant and expanded my total knowledge of the business. So, when the CEO of Zale unexpected resigned, I was tapped on the shoulder to replace him. And I remained in that position for three years.” “The point: Even if you never aspire to become a CEO, all this of will help you become a better business partner and prepare you for future opportunities both in and outside of HR.” Priceless words of wisdom. That brings us to… These five words sum up 20 years of work by Dave Ulrich, that he posted earlier this year on LinkedIn. The key question: If HR isn’t about HR, what is it about then? According to Ulrich, ranked as the #1 HR business guru by Business Week, HR is all about the business and the outcomes of doing HR work. For example, if the HR work you’re doing (talent acquisition, leadership development, etc.) isn’t delivering the outcomes (e.g., increased productivity, cost savings, more sales) that are truly valued by your clients and the organization — then you’re not doing REAL HR work. HR is all about the value you deliver. And value can only be defined by the receiver (your clients or business leaders), not by you as the giver. What does this mean? It means as much as possible, avoid getting bogged down doing low-priority HR activities with no clear understanding of their impact on your business. Instead, define the business outcomes and value your clients desire first — and then re-engineer your HR priorities to deliver against those. Obviously, in some cases, that is much easier said than done. But that’s the real work of HR. ‘Nuff said, let’s move on. While rummaging through my cluttered files, I came across a short article in People Management magazine published in the UK decades ago. The words stopped me in my tracks. So, I ripped out the article out and trashed the magazine. Sadly, the author’s name went in the garbage with that magazine as well. But the insight and advice still apply today. Perhaps even more so. Here’s an excerpt from that article… A decent HR person should always act with integrity, be professional and even be professional where they can. Don’t speak badly of people who are going through a difficult time or relate confidential conversations as gossip. Don’t ever enjoy a dismissal or disciplinary hearing. Don’t lose trust in your staff. And never sell your soul to fit in with a toxic environment – you will lose yourself in the process. Some HR professionals think they can go in, do the work, come home again and not be affected by a poor culture. Although that transactional relationship is possible for some roles, good and bad HR has too profound an impact on people’s lives to have that attitude. Some final thoughts Despite the last few years of this horrible pandemic, I can tell you one thing with confidence. I’m living the life of my dreams in part by ruthlessly stealing secrets from people who are smarter than me. And, in doing so, I don’t mind giving them 100% of the credit for their ideas and brilliance. By tapping into your own network, you’ll discover plenty of HR leaders, executives, consultants, coaches, speakers and successful business leaders that will freely offer you some of their best advice. You should take it, use it and share it with others — and never hesitate to credit them. It’s one of the fastest pathways to success in HR.
What do you do when you encounter this?
#1: Create a dedicated workspace at home.
#2: Your HR credentials mean nothing without ACTION.
#3: To get ahead in HR, you must continually make yourself relevant.
#4: “HR is not about HR.”
#5: As an HR person, never sell your soul to fit in with a toxic environment.
