Personal Board of Directors: A Day in the Life Sunday

The kid participated in a babysitting clinic yesterday. She rotated through stations, role played and ended the day with a panel of parents.

Energized by the day and wanting to babysit NOW, the questions begin and quickly turn from babysitting basics to my babysitting experiences:

"Did you babysit for others before I was born, Mom?"

"No not much. Until I had you, I wasn't particularly fond of children. Why?"

"I want to have my own panel of parents so I can ask them questions. I want people with experience."

A day later, I'm still not sure if I passed and get to be on her panel of parents but her questions got me thinking.

A friend whom I admire greatly, offered his support to help me do whatever it is I wanted to do in anyway he can: critique, connect . . . be on my personal board of directors.

Parenting panel . . . personal board of directors - get the connection? ==> People committed to helping you be better tomorrow than you are today. I've read about them, thought they'd be a grand idea and even suggested to a mentee or two that they consider putting one together  - yet I've stopped short of having one myself.

Why? Oh, I am sure the reasons changed over the years from being lazy and not interested in accountability and returning favors to being a fiercely independent and content know-it-all but it really was not something I thought about often.

I am thinking about it now.

I am thinking about blind spots and about gaps in my experiences, skills and day-to-day activities. I am thinking about people with experiences, skills and day-to-day activities I can learn from. I am wondering how others see me and how that's different <and better> than I see myself. I am thinking about what I can give back.

I am wondering if I already have some of the pieces in place and not even realize it?

Tell me this, do you have a personal board of directors? How did you staff <once am HR girl, always an HR girl> your board of directors? What's the biggest leap they asked you to make that you would not have made on your own?

Photo Credit iStockphoto

Your (HR) Personal Trainer

I have a regular little HR love fest going on here with Fresh Eyes and MN SHRM 2011, My Kind of HR, HREs Don't Run HR Departments and now today's post.

What the heck, this is an HR blog anyway.

I am taking a page from my daily life and making a connection to HR in 1-2-3 . . .

I hired a personal trainer. Her name is Kami and, for the next six months, her job is to get my butt in shape so I can feel healthy and strong again - strong enough to train for a half-marathon next spring, without injury, and finish respectfully (before the clean up crew comes out and has to clean around me.)

Not my trainer but my motivator 2009

This arrangement has worked well so far - she tells me what to do and I do it. Ah, the makings of a fine relationship.

I've been doing this HR stuff for a long time and have seen as many people succeed in HR as not. If I were an HR personal trainer, I'd train HR pros on the competency equivalent of strength, endurance, and flexibility: development, discernment, and dialogue.

IMHO, the strength of these three competencies is the difference between the successful and unsuccessful and between the successful and exceptional:

• Development. This is case development, point/counterpoint and building a position or course of action. It's research, letting no question go unanswered, and identifying impacts and influences. It's at the core of everything from advocating for new programs to setting strategic directions.
• Discernment. Not all information is created equally nor is it weighted equally. It knowing what's important to the development at hand, what can stay and what can go, and the impact (politically or culturally) of including or excluding info or advocating one direction over another.
• Dialogue. Nothing gets accomplished singularly and this is dialoguing with others via orally and in writing, with body language and through action. If you can't write it or speak it clearly, you will have an uphill climb in influencing others and impacting action.

So, what do you think - if you were an HR personal trainer, what would you train your clients on?

Unconference Love

I love the unconference format.

I find so much value in taking an issue and hashing it out with a small group of people on comfy chairs with wine or coffee. I love it when I can offer ideas to others. I love it when one idea leads to another and we end up somewhere unexpected. I don't love it when someone has an idea I hadn't thought of or when their idea rocks a "truth," or something close to it, for me.

This is when I start to think.

It's not pleasant. It's not comfortable. It's questions, doubt and maybe even a temporary loss of spirit. It is what it is and, while I know that this too will pass, I hope it doesn't pass too quickly.

This is when I grow.

It's Me. It's Always Me. And If You Are A Leader, It's You Too

Leadership. Human Resources. Supervision. Process Improvement. Conflict. Resolution. Performance. Outcomes. Motivation. 

I've been doing this long enough to know that if something is not going the way that I want it to, the way that I expect it to, or just seems to be continually amiss, it is not long before it circles back to me.

You don't know how many times, or maybe you do, I've started to work through a workplace concern with my coach and ended up sitting back in my chair saying, "It's me. It's all me.  Again." 

It's at these time that I often wonder, "so, what's a nice girl from Long Island doing in a place like this?"

Seriously though, leadership is a series of course corrections and it always comes back to the leader. I shouldn't be surprised but it really is an eye opener for me - each and every time. Am I alone on this?

Photo Credit iStockphoto

When I'm Done

I am not content to have the job no one else would want.

When I'm done, I will have a role others wish they had. 

Soaring Past Annoying Little Coworker Things

Here's the deal. We, Human Resource professionals, provide a valuable (and cool) service to our organizations. We do, see, and determine things that no other department can do, see or determine. We have a responsibility like no other.

We are here for the big things.

Fighting, arguing, head butting, or clashing with {insert  department of choice here} or each other aren't big things. They are little thing.

What else are little things? Viewing mistakes of others as nonrecoverable, talking about others behind their back, telling one person what another person said about them for no reason other than getting their blood boiling, feeling (or saying) that your way is always better, thinking (or saying) it's not my turn, not my job, or not my turn to care, hoarding information, and saying you work harder, faster, or simply more than all others. Get my drift?

Drift higher. Swat the little things off your shoulder like the nuisances they are and don't engage. Don't let the little things stop you dead in your tracks or worse, veer you off course. Take the high road and stay above the fray. Yes, it may seem unfair that YOU are being asked to take the high road when others are not. I can't make you go there nor will this post get you there - you have to decide to go there for yourself.

Having a tough time deciding? Consider this. The little things do nothing more than distract us from what we can be. We can be big. Or we can be small.

I'm for being big. Let's soar.

 Subscribe in a reader