{HR} Leadership Is Not For The Weak

Essential competencies for high performing HR professionals include being a cultural steward, talent manager, operational executor . . . and having a thick skin.

Listen, let me just save you some time and <wasted> energy. If you are not pleased with a decision I've made or frustrated because I don't see things your way and get the urge to call me names, you'll have to do better than "obtuse and obstructionist."

Really, professionals should be able to communicate without name calling but in those cases where that doesn't happen, you have got to know . . . "sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never harm me." They used to, like when I was 4 and the big girls came up to me and taunted, "Mona Lisa, are you going to cry? Are you going to cry?" Yup, I cried, but no more.

Big girls, big words, artistic taunts and ridiculous slams aside, there is something that does catch my attention: questions about my motives, my intentions or my credibility. 

Credibility. It's the thing that keeps me up at night, has me second guessing my actions and replying my conversations. And at times, it is the thing I insert into situations where it has no place being.

What else do I know about credibility?

Well, a lot actually and I am going to be talking credibility and leadership today at the 22nd Annual ALAMN Educational Conference and Exposition Leadership Boot Camp. All very fitting not can talk about leadership and credibility all day but I've stepped foot in a boot camp or two back in the day.

ALAMN members and guests, welcome to the blog and I look forward to speaking with and learning from you today.

Make an HR Difference

An introvert and a commitment walk into an HR conference . . . .

and make it all the way to lunch when - scanning the swag bags and sensible shoes - I get the cold sweats. Heart starts racing, fight or flight kicks in and I depart the area for the nearest coffee shop wondering, "What the heck?"

It was suffocating.

Hands on the wheel, sun on the face and open road ahead - I drove. It was too much. Too much drinking the same Kool-Aid, accepting the same ideas and morphing into one indistinguishable HR mass.

I can't morph. I won't morph. And you can't make me.

You can come talk with me, but you can't talk with me about HR. Ok, you can talk about HR but not the way you usually talk about HR. Don't talk with me about FMLA, benefit programs, award calculations or market based-compensation.

Talk with me about reenergizing a wall-flower incentive awards program, linking everything workforce development to the strategic plan or responding to changes in leadership styles. Talk with me about LPN to RN upward mobility and whether tuition programs are a benefit of employment, a talent management tool with expectations or something completely else.

Talk dirty to me <no, not that kind of dirty - remember the brand> but the kind of dirty that really messes with the HR status quo.

Talk with me about relationships. Talk with me about how we are not in the HR business but how we are in the relationship business.

Listen to me when I tell you that my job satisfaction, my view of HR as a profession or my assessment of my own abilities can be so utterly dependent on the state of my relationships at the time. My boss has my back and I am unstoppable. Leaders (union included) question my motives and I am temporarily stalled.

Relationship is how work really gets done. And credibility is the key that unlocks the door, the coin of the realm, the thing that makes this whole thing work.

If I were to hop onto the stage to talk about credibility, would you come and listen to me?

An introvert and a commitment walk into a conference . . . and walk out with purpose and direction.

Photo credit iStockphoto

HR Leadership and Credibility

I had the honor of presenting at the Human Resource Professional Association (HRPA) - Peel Chapter Annual General Meeting Thursday night.

I spoke about HR leadership and credibility. What did I say? Credibility is important for HR professionals because we simply cannot do our job without it, credibility is earned over time but all hope is not lost for those new to the profession, what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas and you are known by the company you keep.

There was more and it's in the slides below.

(Click on the slides and not the arrows to get the full coolness of fade ins and outs)

It was so great to see Bonni Toronto again and to meet her people - the amazing HR professionals in and around the Toronto area. Needless to say, I was very impressed with the chapter and members. From beginning to end, they are first class. 

Special thanks to Steve Browne for dedicating his March HR Roundtable to credibility and to Ben Eubanks for his HR Young Professional series on credibility - great material that enhanced the presentation. 

Here are some of the sites and posts I referenced in conversation: 

• Welcome to the Occupation, Paul Smith
• Leader's Credibility is Golden, John Baldoni, HBR
• Micheal Hyatt Intentional Leadership, Micheal Hyatt
• How to Establish Credibility, Ben Eubanks, UpstartHR
• Drive Thru HR Radio Show, Bryan Wempen and William Tincup
• HR Roundtable: The Touch Issue of Credibility at Work, Steve Browne, TLNT

Enjoy! 

Is Your Credibility Transferable?

Taking a lighter spin on the credibility questions I've been pondering this week, I'll close it out with one final question.

Let's start with a given - you are credible. You have the credibility card in your wallet, framed on your wall, taped to your computer monitor or pinned to your bulletin board.

Stop, take a close look and read the fine print.

Is your credibility transferable?

Is credbility linked to a task, a situation, or something much more? Is it only skin deep or does it come from your core?

If I am credible here, am I credible there? Can I pick up my credibility and take it most anywhere? 

Photo credit Justfacs via Google Images

Credibility is a Good Thing. Right?

We all know that credibility is necessary to lead.

Don't we?

Of course we do. What a silly question!

But wait . . . stick with me for a minute . . . is it? Is it really?

Can credibility ever be a hinderance? 

Is Credibilty Declared or Bestowed?

I've deemed myself credible. Yes, I have and I actually think I do it pretty darn regularly, out loud, to others. My credibility is likely included somewhere on my in-dire-need-of an-overhaul LinkedIn profile somewhere. 

Oh, don't judge me, I am sure you've done it too. And why shouldn't we? We do our homework, follow through on the things we say we are going to do, maintain our SPHR certification and don't lie, cheat or steal. I never even gave it a second thought. 

Until now. Until I started preparing my credibility presentation and picking at the notion of crediblity. Until I started to wonder. Until I started to pose the question to others.

And until I read what my friend Steve Browne had to say. 

Steve addressed the Touchy Issue of Credibility At Work on TLNT and wrote,

"Credibility is determined by others. You can’t proclaim yourself credible. The reality of credibility at work is that others get to determine whether you are credible or not. May not seem fair, but it is reality. Understanding that this is something that occurs vs. being bestowed is important. People that posture for attention and focus to seem credible often are people that are the farthest thing from actually being credible."

Is credibility something that is declared or something that is bestowed?

Yikes. Have I been making the greatest faux pas of all time? Have you? What do you think?

Photo credit iStockphoto