2009 Articles
2009 October: Where To Begin When You Don’t Know Where To Begin?
How many times have you been challenged by a colleague or competitor and – instead of saying “I don’t know – I’ll have to research that”, you respond with something that is vaguely on track but is limited in its depth and insight? In fact, your response might even imply you really don’t know what you’re talking about because you’ve allowed yourself to react too quickly. In the past – before I was wiser – I know I have done it. I did it because I would get caught up in trying to look smart instead of considering the question and how to acquire the answer. I’d do it because I felt threatened and lacked confidence in my own abilities. I’d do it because I didn’t want to look stupid. [Read full article...]
2009 September: What If We Just Did Nothing About Healthcare?
September’s newsletter is late because – in the midst of the heated discussions and debates on healthcare reform – I’ve been distracted by my own personal health issue this month, a knee injury. I’ve watched as healthcare reform has become a volatile, emotional subject and simultaneously, we’ve discovered and arrested new suspected terrorists. Both take me back to 9/11, because it was both the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history and it was also the day I had brain surgery for a cerebral aneurysm. [Read full article...]
2009 August: What If We All Worked with a Money Back Guarantee?
Over the past several months, I’ve been mulling over giving a money back guarantee on the work performed by HR Logistics. Some – actually, most – recommendations have been that it simply isn’t done, that customers will take advantage of us and ask for their money back by manufacturing excuses for why the work wasn’t satisfactory. That we provide service even if it turns out that it isn’t exactly what the customer really needed. But – truthfully – I don’t really believe that. [Read full article...]
2009 July: What Makes a Good HR Metric?
I have always loved Economics. I am one of those people who find money and its movement through our lives and our economies fascinating. So when I started to get involved with business analysis, I discovered a way I could really let my analytical side run wild at work. Suddenly, I was blending my communication and human resources competencies with my love of economics and technology. It was an unexpected, happy marriage. [Read full article...]
2009 June: Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without.
While vacationing for a few days in the Outer Banks with a friend, we toured Beaufort, North Carolina – a town celebrating its 300 year anniversary this year. As we rode the top of the old double-decker bus, dodging the old trees that were a bit too close as we drove by, our tour guide told us stories about the old houses lining the historic section of the town. [Read full article...]
2009 May: Don’t We All Need a Little Change Management?
I don’t know about you but some days, I feel like the sands are shifting under me continuously and it is exhausting just adjusting to the changes! So it occurred to me that change management isn’t just about opening our perspective to changes at work, but about learning to live with change as a daily challenge. In this business climate, I suspect we are all starting to feel a little “fatigued.” [Read full article...]
2009 April: What is Human Risk Management?
For many years, I have believed that Human Resource Management should really be about managing human “risk”. As HR practitioners, we have tried for years to sell the idea that the discipline of Human Resource Management is really Human Capital Management, i.e. the management of human imagination and talent that is an asset and the key to an organization’s success. [Read full article...]
2009 March: What is Human Resources Strategic Role Now?
Finance Managers are struggling to find cash in crevices all over their organization. They’re looking under the sofa cushions, moving the furniture, shaking the piggy banks, and considering what they can take to the flea market. Their goal is to continue to conduct business as normally as possible without looking like an organization in pain; to keep enough cash in the checking account to pay the bills while weathering the downturn in earning power. CEOs and CFOs know that customers, employees, and investors lose confidence and get very antsy if they think an organization is experiencing difficulty. It’s one of the reasons our current “financial” news is so full of emotional comments. [Read full article...]
2009 February: What is Your Organizational Health Gap?
The best teams know they need re-calibration periodically to ensure their focus and execution remains aligned with organizational goals and objectives. In these rapidly changing times, realignment becomes even more critical as organizations struggle with the economy – no one has room in their strategic plan to waste time or money. [Read full article...]
2009 January: Could There Be a Silver Lining?
As 2009 begins, the tumultuous 4th quarter of 2008 recedes into memory ever so slightly. New Year’s is always a day of hope and the possibilities of the coming year are completely unchallenged. As we begin our new year, I find it difficult to be gloom and doom even as I know the next year holds challenges none of us expected – some of them severe. But there is possibly a silver lining to the long term impact of our economic difficulties. [Read full article...]
