Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Someone recently asked me about a project that I worked on during my career that I was particularly proud of. My answer was a project that I worked on as a consultant. The company was convinced that they had a training problem and brought in a team of consultants to “fix” the problem. 

The situation was interesting because there was this room full of consultants and we all had to learn how to work together. But one thing we were all committed to was doing a proper assessment of the situation. In doing so, we discovered that the problem wasn’t training. It was employee scheduling. This changed the entire scope of work but thankfully, it saved the company a lot of money and their challenge was assessed and solved correctly. 

This story was also a reminder to me that if organizations use good processes, it will result in good outcomes. Please note I didn’t say that you would get the outcome you expected or maybe even wanted. But a proven process, when administered correctly, can point you in the right direction. Neil deGrasse Tyson mentioned the same thing in his MasterClass on Scientific Thinking and Communication “What You Know is Not as Important as How You Think”.

Now is a great time for organizations to look at their processes to make sure that they’re using proven models and that employees know how to use them as well. 

Make Your Organization Unique

Organizations should be very focused on what makes them stand out from their competition. It seems to me that’s the uniqueness factor. If a company says, “We do what everyone else does and we do it exactly the same as everyone else.” well, that’s not really a compelling argument to buy your product or service. Now could be a perfect time to discuss what makes the company unique and then ensure there are systems in place to support it.

HR Departments Need to Prepare for Delivering Value

The business world is constantly changing. But we can evaluate our situation, acknowledge our strengths, address our challenges, and develop a plan. The more prepared we are, the better we can react to the changing needs of the organization. And the better we can be at delivering value.

How To Calculate Return on Investment

Return on investment is an important business calculation. It can help organizations make good decisions and it can help organizations measure the results of decisions they’ve made. But the value in ROI isn’t in just calculating the number. It’s in making sure you calculate the number completely. Using the right information. Because that allows the organization to gain the proper insights.

How to Evaluate Your Employee Value Proposition

Regardless of what your organization is doing right now from a recruiting perspective, the organization’s employment brand is important. Which means the employee value proposition is important. Now could be a perfect time to see how your EVP looks in a quadrant model. Ensure you have a balanced offering of components that will be attractive to candidates in the short-term and to career-focused employees in the long-term. 

Organizations: Please Stop Ranking Candidates and Employees

Ranking candidates and employees is a form of bias called contrast bias. It’s when we’re comparing people to each other versus what we should be comparing them to – which is the company standard. There’s a reason that ranking fell out of favor decades ago. It doesn’t help organizations attract, engage, and retain the best talent. In fact, organizations could just be making talent decisions using the wrong information.

Goal Setting Today Can Be Fun

Now has always been the time of year when I start thinking about my goals for the year ahead. Yes, I start early. It takes time to weigh the options and to figure out the time and resource commitment. When I can add a little fun into the process, that’s great! Especially because I work remotely. In an office environment, the company might have fun signs or something talking about progress toward goals. When you’re not in the office every day, you might need something that helps you encourage yourself.

Problem Solving Can Be a Proactive Exercise

How many times have you been on the receiving end of a situation and said to yourself, “This problem didn’t happen five minutes ago. They’ve known for a while and just got around to telling us.”? Time to employ some proactive problem-solving techniques to better deal with the situation.

Force Field Analysis: What Is It and Why Use It

Decision making is an important skill. When we make bad decisions, they could weigh on us for a long time. Having good decision-making tools can help us ask the right questions so we make the best decisions possible.

While there are some very positive business indicators right now, organizations are going to continue their focus on profits and market share. They will be regularly evaluating their progress toward goals and wanting solutions to their challenges. Not only will the organization need to have good processes in place, but managers will need the same tools to ensure their aspect of the operation is running as effectively and efficiently as possible. Oh, and employees will need the same tools to maintain a high level of performance.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby after speaking at the SHRM Annual Conference in Orlando, FL

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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

I learned a new term recently – p(doom). It stands for the “probability of doom” when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI) and a doomsday scenario. P(doom) is a scale that runs from 0 to 100. The higher you score yourself, the more convinced you are that AI is going to wipe out civilization. 

I first read about p(doom) in The New York Times newsletter DealBook where it reported that sharing your p(doom) score is becoming more mainstream and some people are even making it a part of their introduction. “Hi! I’m Sharlyn Lauby, author of HR Bartender. And my p(doom) score is XX.”

Personally, I don’t have a p(doom) score at this point. But it did make me realize that I need to think about it. Not because I need a p(doom) score to share with everyone. But because – as a HR pro – I can’t influence artificial intelligence if I don’t become part of the conversation.

Organizations are talking about AI regularly and HR technology companies are adding AI components to their products. Translation: The technology conversation right now is all about AI. HR professionals cannot wait to enter this conversation. They need to be a part of shaping outcomes. Because artificial intelligence can play a prominent role in talent strategies.

Artificial Intelligence and the Candidate Experience

Organizations have to think about the candidate experience and how people perceive technologies like artificial intelligence. If applicants are suspect of the organization’s talent acquisition process, they could be reluctant to apply. And that has a negative impact on the company’s goal to hire the best employees. 

Artificial Intelligence Can Empower Your Employees

Artificial Intelligence isn’t going away, in fact, I think we will continue to have more conversations about its capabilities. There are benefits to organizations and individuals in reducing administrative work. But organizations should put some dedicated thought and planning into the role that AI will play in their operation. 

If human resources departments want to use artificial intelligence to attract, hire, engage, and retain talent, then they need to ensure that AI is a part of the organization’s technology strategies. 

Organizations Need to Have a Comprehensive Technology Strategy

Today’s technologies are an important part of doing business. And because technology is such a huge component of our personal and professional lives, we need to make sure everyone knows how to properly use it. It starts with understanding the organization’s technology strategy.

Organizations Need an Artificial Intelligence Strategy

An increasing number of candidates and employees are coming to expect modern technology in their work experience. Old technology can be an obstacle to productivity, talent management, and recruiting. Organizations don’t have to be early adopters of every new technology, but they should understand the trends and strategize about what it means for their operation. 

Once organizations have a solid technology strategy in place, that includes new tools like artificial intelligence, then it’s time to think about how it will be implemented throughout the organization. User adoption is key, and employees will need education to embrace AI.

5 Steps to Become an Effective Adopter

Individuals and organizations need to figure out how to become “effective adopters”. Not everyone has to be an early adopter, but you certainly don’t want to be so late to the party that you can’t catch up. 

How to Find the Right Artificial Intelligence Tool for HR

While we’ve been talking about artificial intelligence for a while, it’s still a new tool. But we’re getting to the point where the talk is turning into reality. That’s really exciting. But we need to prepare for it. 

Technologies evolve over time and artificial intelligence will be no exception. But for organizations and HR departments that have been on the sidelines wondering when to join in the conversation … I think that time is now. You will want to have a say in how this technology evolves. Because that benefits your business and your employees.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby at the HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas, NV

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Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Several years ago, I wrote an article for The Workforce Institute blog titled “The Scientific Method isn’t Just for Scientists”. The scientific method is a proven model for problem solving that includes five steps:

1. Identify the problem.
2. Form a hypothesis.
3. Test the hypothesis by conducting an experiment.
4. Analyze the data.
5. Communicate the results.

Even if we’re not in the field of science, we can use this model to solve problems and create change. I recently listened to Bill Nye (the Science Guy)’s MasterClass on Science and Problem Solving where he spent a lot of time talking about how the scientific method can be used to create change. While he was focused on discussing the science of climate change, his points can be applied to a general business environment. 

The underlying theme of his MasterClass was that the principles of science are for everyone and the way we research problems can have an impact on how we design solutions. HR competency models have identified critical thinking as necessary for human resources professionals. Using a proven model like the scientific method can be a perfect way of developing and refining our critical thinking skills. Here are a few of my takeaways from his class.

Rules and constraints are not necessarily bad or wrong. They are just things we have to deal with. Sometimes people want to use a rule as a reason for not attempting to tackle a problem. Nye’s suggestion was that the process of problem solving within a set of constraints can lead to greater creativity and innovation. 

Use critical thinking to evaluate the quality of data we receive. With today’s technology and fast paced news cycles, we have access to a tremendous amount of information. And because we do, it’s essential to learn how to evaluate information well. Think of it as media literacy. Neil deGrasse Tyson also talks about the importance of questioning information – even from our favorite sources – in his MasterClass as well. 

Be prepared to change your mind. It’s okay to change our position on a topic. New information might surface that supports a different way of thinking. One thing we do want to be cognizant of is that we don’t let fear make decisions for us. Yes, we have to talk about the negatives / downsides of an issue, but we should use the benefits to help convince us. 

Learn how to turn the scientific method into action. Some people (and organizations) are great at talk and fall short on action. Maybe as HR pros one of the things we can do is help people develop new habits. Instead of saying “stop doing this” or “don’t do that” … let’s find ways to help and support people trying to change. 

My last takeaway was on the importance of participating in the process. As I mentioned earlier, Nye spent a lot of the MasterClass using climate change examples and he frequently mentioned the importance of voting and participating in the local and global conversations about climate change. Regardless of your feelings about climate change, the message about participation matters in business too. We can’t simply say, “Oh, the company isn’t going to do anything so I’m not going to participate.” That thinking doesn’t help anyone. 

As businesspeople, there will always be some sort of challenge we need to work on. Some problems are big, and others are small. Finding a proven method to research and work on problems is necessary. What can be very beneficial for the organization is to adopt a method – like the scientific method – properly train everyone in the organization and use it regularly to make the organization better.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Salt Lake City, UT

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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

I’m a tea drinker. I don’t hate coffee. I just like tea better. As such, I am constantly buying new teas to try. One of my recent purchases was Soderblandning, a blended tea from Stockholm, Sweden. The tea has an interesting story. It was created in 1979 by Swedish tea shop owner Vernon Mauris. He was preparing a tea blend when an extra ingredient accidently fell into the mixture. Not wanting to throw the tea away, Mauris decided to try to sell it and called it “mistake tea”. Later it was renamed Soderblandning after a local festival. 

Mauris’ “mistake” has ultimately become one of the tea shop’s most popular teas. And I read somewhere that it’s served at the Nobel Prize award banquet hosted by the Swedish Royal Family. 

It made me wonder – as I was staring at this little tea tin – how do we react to our mistakes? And are there ways for us to consider turning our mistakes into something better? 

Understand what mistake means. The definition of mistake means “to understand wrongly, misinterpret, or estimate incorrectly”.  Using this definition, an example of a mistake could be “I made a mistake and put extra bacon on the sandwich.” Or “I estimated that 75% of employees would respond to the survey. The reality is 87% completed the survey.” It’s important for us to remember that all mistakes are not bad. 

Get comfortable with making mistakes. None of us are perfect. We’re going to make mistakes. When we’re learning something new, we’re going to make a lot of mistakes. When you’re working on something, think about the different mistakes that could happen. If they don’t, then great! But if they do, then you had already considered this could happen and possibly even thought of some effective ways to respond. 

Hold yourself accountable. If you make a mistake, admit it. First, admit it to yourself. Then forgive yourself so you can focus on next steps. If we use the sandwich example above, if you accidently put too much bacon on someone’s sandwich, you might say “Okay, I won’t do that again next time.” Or “Darn, now I have less bacon for my sandwich.” Or maybe “Let me make some more bacon so I have plenty for all the sandwiches.” Admit the mistake, then move forward.

Be prepared to discuss it with others. After you hold yourself accountable, it’s time to manage the mistake with others. If we use the survey example above, we might have to inform others of the increased participation and suggest some additional actions. Like “I didn’t anticipate survey participation to be this strong. I think we need to keep the window for accepting feedback open a couple extra days.” Not acknowledging the mistake could possibly cut the survey off early and frustrate employees. 

Do a debrief. Regular readers of HR Bartender know I’m a fan of the two-question debrief. This is a perfect time to ask yourself: 1) What did I do well? And 2) What would I do differently next time? Even when a mistake happened, think about what things did go well because you want to continue doing them AND THEN figure out what you’d like to do differently next time.    

Please notice I haven’t spent any time talking about things that are bad or wrong. Yes, sometimes mistakes happen that are bad and wrong. We can apply the same principles. Realize a mistake was made. Admit it. Come up with solutions to mitigate it. Debrief so it doesn’t happen again. 

Often what makes mistakes bad or worse is when we refuse to admit they happened. For that reason, we don’t want to talk about them or come up with any solutions to change the situation. Because that would mean we have to say we made a mistake. Maybe instead of trying to hide our mistakes, we need to openly share them … who knows, they could turn into our next marvelous thing.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Orlando, FL

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Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

A while ago, I published an article related to how organizations can save money. I hope you’ll check it out when you have a moment. Sometimes one of the first budgets to get cut when times are tough is training. In my experience, when that happens, sales and service decline and managers complain that the reason they can’t meet their goals is because employees aren’t trained. Sound familiar?

I know you’re thinking the same thing I am. Well of course employees aren’t trained. They didn’t get the proper training because the company cut the budget. Sadly, the company created the situation. And in many cases, they just don’t want to admit it. 

The reason I wanted to bring this up is because I was recently on a conference call where someone said that organizations are reluctant to implement training initiatives because they don’t want to train employees and then have them leave. This is the same principle as cutting the training budget. It reminds me of that well-worn cliché “What if I train employees and they leave? Well, what if you don’t and they stay?”

Basic employee training – the kind of training that employees need to do their jobs – isn’t a luxury item. If you cut it from the budget, you’ll pay for it somewhere else. If employees don’t feel that the company supports them by providing the training and tools to do the job, they will go somewhere else. Basic employee training – again, the kind of training that employees need to do their jobs – isn’t a carrot to dangle in front of someone and say, “I’ll tell you how to do your job if you promise to stay.”

Now, that being said, there are training topics that organizations might be able to cut if needed. Maybe training sessions that are considered “optional” and were offered as an enhanced learning experience. It’s possible the company has found the same topics on sites like LinkedIn Learning, which many of us can access for free with a library card. 

While I believe that training is important, I do understand that training budgets need regular evaluation. But the notion that companies aren’t providing essential skills to employees because they’re concerned they might leave … seems very short-sighted and not very business focused. 

There’s one other suggestion I want to make when it comes to employees and training. This has to do with managers. 

• If organizations cut the training budget, the responsibility for employee training falls to the manager. Are they prepared to take on the task? Meaning do they know how to train people?
• If the organization decides to reduce classroom training and rely more on OJT (on-the-job) learning, do managers know how to build those types of activities into their departments?
• If the organization decides to eliminate some of the enhanced learning opportunities because there are outside resources that can offer the same for free, do managers know how to encourage employees to use them?
• And finally, do managers know how to evaluate their training needs so they can ask for help if they need it?

Organizations need to remember that these “cut the training budget” decisions have consequences for their managers. And if managers haven’t been trained, then it’s only making a bad situation worse. Organizations can make changes to their training offerings – including cutting some programs – when the right infrastructure is in place. That includes having trained managers who know what to do. 

Train employees so they can do their jobs. Train managers so they can support employees. Make no mistake, employee training is essential for business success.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby at the SHRM Annual Conference in Orlando, FL

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Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

(Editor’s Note: A huge thank you to Carrie Cherveny, senior vice president of strategic client solutions at HUB International, and Eric Peterson MSOD, an educator and speaker on inclusion and diversity for their help with this article. I was looking for resources and asked for some assistance which was very much appreciated.)

Over the past week, a war has started in Israel and Gaza. And there is still a war going on in Ukraine. Today’s article isn’t to talk about how these wars started and what’s currently happening. I want to take a moment to talk about employees and their needs during conflict. 

Our workplaces are diverse. We have individuals of all religions, including non-religious believers, in our workforce. And even if someone doesn’t speak about their beliefs, it doesn’t mean they don’t have them. It’s possible organizations have employees with family in a war zone or close to a war zone. Employees might be worried, distracted, and possibly angry about what’s going on. 

Employees might be wondering if there’s something they can do to help. So, I wanted to share some resources that could be helpful. Please keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list. 

INTERNAL PROGRAMS

If your organization has an employee assistance program (EAP), wellbeing programs, or mental health benefits, employees might want to utilize those programs. HR departments should be regularly reminding employees about these benefits because employees might be too conflicted to come to HR and ask about how to use them. 

In addition to internal programs, organizations need to be aware that employees might encounter workplace conflict and harassment. Alex Alonso, chief knowledge officer at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), wrote a book titled “Talking Taboo: Making the Most of Polarizing Discussions at Work” that might be insightful and helpful at this time. 

Speaking of SHRM, if you’re a member, you have access to Express Requests. This is a section of the SHRM website where their knowledge advisors curate information about a specific subject. SHRM does have an express request available on the Israel – Hamas War. Be sure to check it out.

Also, Eric B. Meyer, an employment attorney with the firm of Fisher Broyles, published an article on “5 Fantastic Resources to Help Your Business Address Antisemitism in the Workplace”. Eric has been writing about how the events in Israel might impact the workplace, so if you’re not already following his work, check out his blog “The Employer Handbook”. 

HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS

Several community- and faith-based organizations have indicated that they will be trying to help the victims of the attacks. Time published an article titled “How to Help Victims of the Israel – Hamas War” that includes a list of organizations offering support including the Alliance for Middle East Peace, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency, The Red Cross, and Save the Children.

It’s also possible that your local community- and faith-based groups are trying to help as well. For instance, your local synagogue, Jewish Community Center, mosque, Islamic Community Center, and / or church.

One more thing. There’s a lot of information being circulated via the internet and social media. I’ve already seen misinformation being shared and I’m sure you have too. Now is a good time to remind ourselves that “Media Literacy is a Business Competency” and be alert to online information. This is one more way that we can be supportive during this time of conflict.

As a human resources professional, I know that sometimes employees are reluctant to share that they’re hurting. And when I say employees, I mean employees at every level. Sometimes an executive might feel they have to “stay strong” for the team. If you know of a resource that would be helpful to the HR community during this time of conflict, please share it in the comments. Having a list of resources available can be helpful. You don’t have to wait until someone asks. Just bookmark the page in case you need it.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while at the Wynwood Art District in Miami, FL

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Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

I recently saw the question “How can organizations save money?” in one of my Facebook groups. The group had some very good suggestions like conducting a benefits audit and reviewing all vendor contracts. But there are a couple of things that organizations need to think about before just cutting expenses, especially employee related expenses. 

Call me a realist, but I’ve always believed that organizations are in business to make money. This doesn’t mean that organizations don’t practice corporate social responsibility and don’t give back to their communities. But at their core, companies want to make money. Even non-profit organizations want to make money so they can fulfill their mission. So, organizations need to think about finding ways to increase revenue. Companies don’t grow just by cutting expenses. They grow by increasing profits. 

Of course, one of the ways to improve the revenue line is by keeping expenses under control. Organizations should look at regularly occurring expenses to make sure they’re being used. No different than we do in our personal lives. For example, the fees for those very convenient subscriptions programs can add up. And if we’re using them – great! But if we’re not, then we need to ask why and possibly make adjustments or cancel them all together. 

But there’s another way that organizations can increase revenue. It’s by getting employee feedback. Front line employees have great suggestions for how to increase revenue and decrease expenses. 

True story. Years ago, I worked for a company that was forecasting a shortfall of one million dollars. This was a lot of money to the company, and they were trying to figure out how to deal with the situation. Finally, the company decided to go to employees with the problem and a potential solution. 

They told the workforce about the million dollar shortfall and said if any employee (or group of employees) could come up with an idea that would either 1) decrease expenses or 2) increase revenue, the company would consider it. The idea would be vetted in the organization, meaning that not every idea would automatically be implemented. And if the idea decreased expenses by $XX or increased revenue by $XX, then the employee / group would get XX%. 

Forgive me because I don’t remember the exact amounts and percentages from back then, but you get the point. There was a minimum dollar amount that needed to be saved or generated. It wasn’t hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it was in the tens of thousands. If it worked, then the employee or group would get a thank you bonus equal to a percentage of the savings or monies generated. 

The program was a huge success. It not only generated the one million dollars that the company was looking for … it generated five million more. 

The point of my story is this. Before the company just starts cutting headcount or benefits (and potentially angering employees), organizations facing a challenge should share that challenge with employees. Because employee feedback might have a great idea that would help fix the problem. And if employees help fix the problem, thank them. And thank them well. You’ve probably seen the same photo I have from the company that made $90 million dollars last year and decided to thank employees with cupcakes. Granted, I like cupcakes too, but I hardly think the thank you aligns with the effort. 

Organizations are always going to have some sort of challenge that they’re dealing with. Start putting a process in place to ask and get employee feedback. Employees have great ideas. Use them.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby after speaking at the SHRM Annual Conference in Las Vegas, NV

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