I just started reading Thinking Write by Kelly L. Stone. Besides thinking the title of her book would have been an awesome name for a blog if I only would have thought of it first, I was drawn to the tag line, "the secret to freeing your creative mind." Now, my mind could use a little freeing these days. I love to write, am committed to writing more, would welcome a little mula for my writing . . . but now I digress.

I am finishing up chapter 2, The Anti-Writer. The term "anti-writer" is basically the doubt that works against a writer and it does not work alone. Along with the anti-writer comes sabotaging actions. Two scary dudes. I am only up to Chapter 2 and already I have an assignment. For the next two weeks, I am to write down all of the negative thoughts and comments about my writing or my abilities as a writer and ways I sabotage my writing efforts. Ach, who needs 2-weeks! I know the voice all too well. I am going to give myself a 2 minutes on each to capture the thoughts and actions right here, right now.

Ready? Here goes nothing:

Anti-Writer Thoughts: Not good enough, others are better, don't know how to do it right, not interesting, not relevant, too much like everyone else, will run out of ideas, can't write more than 500 words, no one would ever pay to read, too difficult to break into the field, not enough time, don't know how to market, too personal, not authentic enough, not original.

Sabotage Writing Efforts: Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, email, Yammer, laundry, too tired, not enough time, thinking must have an entire afternoon free to write, paper is not quite right, pencil is too dull, pen doesn't flow easily, coffee is too hot, water is not cold enough, need perfect writing snacks, television, have to exercise.

The rule follower in me will continue to capture the thoughts for a few days although I expect them to be variations on the same thing. I already know a few things I can do right now: recommit to posting here at least twice a week, post on Raising Tarah once a week, and carve out 30 minutes per day to write.

To jazz me up, I bought a new red Moleskine notebook that will be at arms length throughout the day.

What tips do you have for me to keep the words flowing? What has worked for you?

Photo credit iStockphoto

While it's snowing in many places across the country and the football game is on, The Leadership Development Carnival is on at Talented Apps. 

With talk of masks, leadership and authencity, this moth's carnival kicks off in grand style with contributions from across the web. Hitting on a variety of leadership topics, I came across many contributors new to me. I'll be taking some time over the next week to read through the posts and I hope you do too.

Be sure to mark your calendar for next month (March 7th) when the carnival returns to its home at Great Leadership.

When I scan the list, I am honored to be included amongst people who inspire, friend and whether they know it or not, challenge me to keep getting better. My Google Reader is in flux with new blogs being added all the time. There are new voices joining the conversation and it is so great to see them recognized.

Congratulations to everyone and thanks to the FOT and HR Capitalist team! The power blog rankings is a labor of love for the community and I appreciate the work that is put into this. 

Click over to the power rankings, check out the blogs, click through the FOT and HR Capitalist sites and stay awhile. 

It's all good. 

 The HR Carnival is hosted this time by Steve Boese over at Steve's HR Technology Journal, where he takes on HR Technology, teaching and a little barbecue. Little is an understatment as this guy does BBQ like no other - with passion.

Steve was one of the first people I met in Twitter and he has made HR Technology a little less overwhelming for me. Because of Steve, I am that much more comfortable asking questions, trying out software and widgets and can even sort of impress my friends and neighbors.

I love the theme and the lead ins to the posts. Steve out did himself this time! So without further ado, here are a few of my favorite posts from the field:

• At Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership, Wally explores the question in 'Leadership Development: When to Hire a Coach'.
• Social media and networking often show much more value than many people expect, as is well-articulated by Naomi Bloom at In Full Bloom with 'Reflections of a Digital Immigrant Gone Semi-Native'.
• The HR Maven shares some of her plans for ongoing personal and professional development in 'Reclaim your brain'.
• Jennifer McClure at Cincy Recruiter's World share a few stories of how not to get employees started with 'Wanted: A Positive Onboarding Experience'.

So, get off the bench, rush on over to the game, and enjoy!

Two things I've got on my mind lately are writing and credibility. I"ll take up writing and the anti-writing demon I'm reading about in a separate post. But I do want to toss out some thoughts about credibility.

When was the last time you were asked to decide a black and white issue? Keep thinking . . . keep thinking . . . got one yet? The last time I was asked to decide a black and white issue I told the group to do an about face and come back to me with the answer, but I digress. Why is it that issues are never black and white?

When was the last time you were advocating for a course of action and the final decision was being made by someone else? And it was anything but black and white? And the decision hinged on your credibility? 

Pick a day, any day, and welcome to my world.

In Leader's Credibility is Golden John Baldoni writes,"credibility is a leader's coin of the realm." And it's up to each individual leader to guard their own credibility. Character matters.  "Leaders are judged by what they do, not what they are. Little good can come from being good; you must do good things. You must be stalwart in the face of crisis. Be the rock for your team to stand upon when times are tough. And be in the shadow when success arrives. "

Being a stalwart in the face of crisis and being a rock for the team . . . here in lies a credibility challenge. When mistakes are made and service is not delivered there is a fine line between a leader supporting her staff and absorbing the hits and in doing so to a fault. There are conversations to be had and expectations to be set (bravery required) and when this is not done it is not done to the fault of the individual, to the team, and to the leader's own credibility with her boss, her staff and her colleagues too. As obvious as this sounds, it's not. And just when you think you've got this leadership thing down, you realize it really is an art and not a science. 

You have credibility currency. You trade in it and on it regularly, whether you are aware of it or not. So, if you regularly own responsibility for missed expectations of members of your team yet shield them (and maybe even yourself) from the discomfort - stop that right now. You are trading in a little bit of leadership credibility each and every time you do so.

How do you know the bank is getting low? It could be a long sigh, an extended silence, a scratch of the forehead or a peer over the reading glasses but make no mistake, it's a credibility assessment in progress. Get it together and pay attention so you can be supported with confidence and not a question.

So, how's your credibility these days?

Photo credit iStockphoto

He read through posts from the past few months and do you know what he said? He said something to the effect that my reputation was obviously not built on what I've written recently. Now, I don't have the exact words, I was a little stunned to capture it word for word, but the message was clear. When I say stunned, don't hear that in a taking offense kind of way at all. He was articulating what I already knew, but needed to hear. How'd he do that?!

While I have been looking into the new year, my writing has dropped off. It has. I lost a bit of inspiration somewhere along the line. My posts were "light" and in some cases, I was posting to fill the space. In one sense I knew what I was doing and in another, I had no idea. We talked about me setting time to write regularly, recapturing depth and getting back to what I know. You could say it is blogging 101 or writing basics. 

I say it was a gift.

Photocredit iStockphoto

Mike VanDervort challenged all of us to put our skills to good use by vetting the charities raising money for Haiti and I went right to my one source for unique ideas, Cool Mom Picks, and they delivered. Although the company below is not a charity, they are donating 100% of the proceeds from . . . .wait, I don't want to steal the thunder from Cool Mom Picks because this is their find, and an excerpt from their post below: 

Helping Haiti, one shirt at a time

We've been blown away by the number of companies, big and small, that are donating 10%, 20%, or even more of their sales to help the people of Haiti. But when Threadless announced they were donating 100% of the proceeds, up to $100,000, from the sale of a specially-designed tee to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund, that definitely got our attention. Read the full post at Cool Mom Picks.

Click over the Threadless to help Haiti. I did. 

Personal Branding Magazine (paid subscription) is about becoming so important to your company, your customers and the people around you, that they can’t live without you. In this issue, Seth Godin reveals his hope for career revolutionaries who want to remain relevant in a world that is being transformed by the internet. Also, this issue explores how Guy Fieri has built his personal brand as a television personality on the food network and how NFL football player Jarvis Green has taken the leap into entrepreneurship.

Branding is not about spin and it’s not about polish. Say that sentence out loud because I am. Personal branding came across to me as an inauthentic way to “clean up the storefront,” that separated the message from the person and got in the way of connection.  I say “came” because my thoughts are changing, ever so slightly, and I am going to read this cover to cover to check out the ideas of others, learn from what Laurie Ruettimann has to say about Becoming a Brand at Work, and read the interview with Alexandra Levit.

You can check out the free Sample issue containing 8 articles total, including how to be an authority, blog SEO and how to grow, polish, and protect your future, subscribe, or visit the Personal Branding Magazine Facebook page for more information.

February is when VA begins recruitment for interns for the Technical Career Internship Program. I think this is an amazing program and I am going to use this, my personal space, to provide you with some information and valuable links to more information about the program.

The Technical Career Internship Program is one of the largest training programs at VA. TCF internships equip professionals with the specialized knowledge they need to support the delivery of quality health care for our Nation's veterans.

Do you like the sound of that? It was written by some great people (not me) and there is more where that came from:

TCF internships are more of an apprenticeship in yout chosen field rather than a traditional internship. Interns are expected to be an active member of the VA team, applying knowledge and skills to the tasks at hand. Interns are entitled to many of the same benefits as other VA employees, as well as benefits avaialble only to TCF interns.

TCF internships are available in a number of career fields to include biomedical engineering, compliance and business integrity, finance, human resource management, safety/industrial hygeine, and supply, processing and distribution. A full list of technical career fields is available at VA Careers. 

Not all internships are offered at all locations. The TCF page will be updated in late February with a listing of available TCF internships and 2010 TCF contacts.

If you are interested in learning more about VA, VA Careers is a one-stop shop for general employment information. Bookmark it and check back often.

The Carnival of HR has made it's way to Central Minnesota and baby it's cold outside! The only way to thrive in the Minnesota winter is to get out of the house and embrace the chill. Before you walk out into the windchill, you must be prepared. So, we kickoff this edition of the Carnival of HR with, well, HR and my favorite winter accessory/necessity, hand warmers! 

HR Hand warmers: Get Them While They're Hot!

Michael VanDervort, Human Race Horses Blog, kicks off the carnival as he shares his thoughts on the fact that we tend to over think terminations these days in Terminate Your Fear!

To SHRM or not to SHRM? Ben Eubanks, Upstart HR, was really looking forward to SHRM 2010 but when he found out it was going to be across the US, his excitement waned, "I can’t make that trip." Is your travel budget cramping your HR style too? 

Mariana Villa da Costa, a regular contributor to the International HR Forum Blog, covers International Employment Law Quick Facts: Brazil, the basics about how employment law operates in Brazil. 

In her post, Compassionate HR: What's Your Company Doing to Improve the Community? Margo Rose, HR Margo, highlights amazing community volunteer projects from around the world.

5 loads of HR bollocks is a light hearted review of some of the big myths and moans in HR. It's not in-depth analysis or great theoretical thinking, just a light, irreverent and funny post from My Hell is Other People.

Kelly Mitton. tHRyving, knows that Gen Y has much to offer the modern-day profession of HR and she shows you how in her post, 8 Ways Gen Y Can Impact HR. 

The HRStore posts an answer to a query from a reader on whether or not they should hire external interviewers as part the staffing plans at a start-up. What would you do?

Paul Smith, Welcome to the Occupation, presents Fixing A Hole, a commentary on HR's responsibility for representing the gay population and where a company can start to make it better for the LGBT community

Chris Young, Maximize Possibility, discusses Non Strategic HR and the Destruction of Value. Some HR departments are strategic while others are not.  Strategic HR departments use pre-employment personality profile screening tools.  Non-strategic HR departments do not.

Handwarmers will help you ease into that first step out the door but once you are outside (think temps in the single digits), you have to keep moving to stay warm just like you  have to stay on your toes to keep up with the pace of change in the world of social media. 

Social Media Snowshoe

Overwhelmed by all that is social media? Trish McFarlane, HR Ringleader, shares tips on How to Simplify your Social Media Life. How does she do it? Simple, she schedules time and uses some simple tools to help organize her online experience.

Mike Krupa, Info Box, helps you to find precious moments that could be used for social media that might otherwise be wasted time in How to Steal Time For Social Media. Yes, he steals time. And it works too!

What is all this Social Media Business? I’m in HR! asks Benifys HR Solutions. Social media has fundamentally changed, and is still changing, the way that we work from Fortune 500 organizations hiring people to blog or ‘tweet’ for them, to personal brand management and collaboration.

Steve Boese, Steve Boese's HR Technology, alerts you that your Candidates are Talking and interacting in social networks discussing your company and even individuals in the hiring process.  Organizations have to be aware, vigilant, and ideally engaging in these environments to both support candidates, and manage the employer brand.

Gautam Ghosh, Guantam on Organizations 2.0, is Thinking About Social Employee Relationship Management and suggests the steps that HR needs to follow to leverage the energy employees are spending on Social Networks, following the principles of Social CRM. 

Michael Long, The Red Recruiter, notes although it seem key metrics in recruiting have remained fairly consistent, the tools have and will continue to change quickly. In his post, Social Media Recruiting and The Bottom Line, he asks questions for you to ponder. 

Everything looks the same covered in snow and it's easy to get off the beaten path and turned around. When this happens, we look to leaders for direction. What is the state of leadership in your organization? What is the state of your own personal leadership? 

Leadership Luge

As a leader, it’s easy to get isolated from the realities of the workplace. Don't let this happen to you. Dan McCarthy, Great Leadership, shows you how to be an Undercover Leader and offers you 10 ways to make sure you don't get isolated as a leader. 

John Hunter, Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog, wonders, Undercover Boss – Will They Really Change?  Managers going to where the work is actual done is an important lean manufacturing concept but unless management systems are in place to systemically learn and improve, it is more like a site-seeing trip than a management tool. 

Becoming a Great Leader is Up to You says Wally Bock, Three Star Leadership. If you want to become a great leader, you have to take responsibility for your own development. He offers some tools you can use.

Jennifer V. Miller, The People Equation, discusses a troubling trend in her post, Employees Can't Get No Satisfaction and goes on to explore “Managerial Quality,” one of four employee engagement drivers identified by the non profit group, The Conference Board.  

Mary Jo Asmus, Aspire, asks What Workplace Relationship Goals Have You Made? As a leader you are the role model. Set some goals for your relationships at work that will assure they are healthy and strong, and watch others follow your lead to help create a great place to work.

No More Stars? Do teams perform better without stars?  If you think you have a star problem, you may have a management problem says Laura Schroeder, Working Girl.

In A Community of Thinkers, Mark Levison, InfoQ, shares his thoughts. "Less leaders, more leadership" resonated with me. What resonates with you? 

When it Comes to Leadership Companies are in a World of Hurt says Michael D. Haberman, SPHR, Omega HR Solutions. Unfortunately many companies have the approach that once we give someone a title they are automatically imbued with all the supervisor, managerial and leadership skills we would want.

Sometimes being lost is ok, especially on a freshly groomed trail with a bright sun overhead, if only for a little while. But it always comes time to head home and get back to business. For some, getting back to business means growing their business, developing employee skills, honing their own skills or finding a job. 

Performance Enhacing . . . Posts

What you see is what you get . . . or is it?  April Dowling, Psuedo HR, challenges you to see if you can see what's right in front you in her post, Perception is Reality.

For Career Development, Get Involved with Mentoring. If you want to make a mentoring relationship work, you need to be in the driver's seat and define what you want from the relationship. Dr.Lois Zachary spoke with Melissa Prusher at The Devon Group blog and offers some practical advice about making mentoring work for you. 

Are you wondering Is Engagement So Last Year?  Well, so is Cathy Missildine-Martin, SPHR, Profitability Through Human Capital. She discusses engagement and wonders, is it still worth focusing on, given our new normal?

In The Five Domains of High Performance, Kevin Oakes, i4cp, talks about the five human capital domains most correlated with high-performance organizations, based on a recent study we conducted. The five domains are strategy, leadership, talent, culture and market. 

Career Seekers Cross Country Ski

Rachel Salley, SPHR, Career Anarchist, talks about what career seekers need to do in order to better position themselves in the job market via conceptualizing their Value Added Proposition.

Shennee Rutt, Deeply Rutted, shares learning and tips in Job Search 101. Tip number 1? Dazzle them from the start! 

Laurie Ruettimann, Punk Rock HR, answers a question on Career Transitions from a reader who is working on overcoming self-doubt and anxiety. You need to conquer your personal fears to give yourself more opportunities. This applies to life and to your career.

Susan Heathfield, Guide to Human Resources, provides questions you can ask yourself and a place you can share your thoughts if you wonder, When Is Leaving HR the Answer? Sometimes leaving HR is the right answer for you.

Everyone knows how awful applying for jobs is, but few think about how hard the hiring process can be for employers. Here's some tips on Omaha.net from Kathleen Nicolini in The Other Side of Recruitment for applicants and human resources recruiters to increase equity, reduce stress, and generally ease the hiring challenge.

Sometimes, it just comes down to the numbers.

Counting Medals

It's in the numbers. right? Well, maybe not says Lance Haun, Rehaul, in The Errant Pursuit of Quantification. The search for quantification is boring and missing the mark. Numbers have severe limitations and give a false sense of security in judgment. Click over to read why.

If you're wondering why half of every headcount report or total compensation planning meeting, really any HR discussion, is spent getting clear on the underlying concepts and terminology, look no further for an explanation and action plan than Naomi Bloom's post The Tower of Babel in HRM: Where Is Our Domain Object Model?

Can Optimism be Taught? Boris Snitkovskiy from Infohrm writes about metrics for measuring employee “optimism,” an increasingly important attribute in light of current events.

Passing the Torch

I'd like to thank all of the contributors for their submissions and you for reading along. All good things must end so with that, we wrap up this edition of the Carnival HR as I pass the torch for the January 27 Carnival of HR for Haiti to our host Mike VanDervort at Human Race Horses blog. 

Happy Birthday Tarah Marie. We Love You. 

You can leave birthday wishes for the kid on Raising Tarah. She'd LOVE it!

Email: It may soon take us 2-3 weeks to clear applicants for hire.

HR reply: 2-3 weeks or 2-3 days? It takes you 1day now.  

Response: 2-3 weeks.                                                               

HR reply: That's a major problem.

Response (wait for it, wait for it): Out of my control.

HR Manager is seething. Can you get why? Yes, the absolute lack of ownership, responsibility, and  understanding portrayed in the four words, "out of my control." It's really not the possible 2-3 week delay because no HR Manager worth her weight in gold is going to let anyone or anything add 2-3 weeks to her hiring process - and that's a given.

Holy smokes folks, don't communicate this way. Just don't. Get it or move on. We've got things to do and you are only in the way.

Photo credit iStockphoto

Wondering where the Carnival of HR is traveling in 2010, check out the Carnival of HR schedule. If you would like to be added to the Carnival email reminder list, send an email to HR Minion. We're always looking for new hosts, so let HR Minion know if you want to host.

In a recent employee appreciation ceremony, one of the senior leaders in my company got up to make a short speech that really resonated with me. He spoke about a traditional cowboy phrase that showed pride and dedication, and I think it has some interesting applications for each of us. The phrase?

"I ride for the brand."

He went on to elaborate on the literal and figurative meanings of that statement. While the cowboys were literally riding every day, the were also representing the organization every time they put on their uniform. I've heard a lot of talk about employer branding, but this message showed me how it applies in a whole new way.

Our employees may not ride horses and wear an uncomfortable amount of leather, but they "ride" for a brand, too. The brand they ride for signifies integrity, respect, and unwavering dedication to the mentally and physically disabled individuals we serve.

Another important point to focus on is that the employees are proud of what they represent. Their own pride in the service they provide gives it a special "flavor." Think about yourself. What brand do you ride for? Do you realize the significance of what you really embody when you go to work each day? Do you represent it with pride? If you can't honestly say that you're proud to "ride" for your brand, then why are you associating yourself in something you aren't comfortable with?

Photo credit iStockphoto

I am not one for New Year's resolution or predictions, although I've been known to jump on a soap box every now and then or vlog for the first time, but I know that 2010 is going to be a year of change. I will make it so.

The economy tanked, the HR profession is struggling with an identity crisis and the world is in conflict but I can still say that 2009 was a good year - for me.  I saw that opportunities to contribute and connect with others are endless. I met so many amazing people. I've been inspired, had my thoughts challenged, was pushed out of my comfort zone and was picked up when I was down. I wanted to do everything and I wanted to be everywhere. I've been overwhelmed by options, energized by opportunity, sought out safety and  fretted about not doing, being or giving enough. 

What's that song line,"you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything?" What it comes down to, for me, is that I don't want to be everywhere and do everything. My focus is actually rather selfish these days - it's about me, it's about my days, and it's about my family. I measure everything against time with my daughter and err on the side of being with her. I say err but how can that ever be wrong? It means I make conscious choices and while I pass up some opportunities it doesn't mean I have any less of a drive to succeed, to make a difference or to contribute.

HR is not my passion. I know HR, enjoy HR, love the idea of a total shakeup/shakedown of the profession, so my future includes HR . . . pretty sure. It includes flexibility, developing potential in others, and connecting until it becomes so ingrained in what I do that I don't even think about it. I love to write more than I had ever known, I feel so fortunate to have a place where I can do that and with people I can do that with and my future includes much more of this.

You see, I am in this blogging/social media/make-a-difference thing for the long haul and ultimately, it means landing in a place where I follow my dream and stop feeling like I am chasing after someone else's.

If you need me and I am not here, you can find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, email, or with the kid on Raising Tarah, where her posting rate, by the way, is putting me to shame.

Here's to 2010!

Photo credit iStockphoto