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30 June 2011

Fresh Crackers (34)

Posted by Ed under communication, crackers, HR, life, line managers, management, relationships, reward and recognition
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We commented a couple of days ago on the Guardian’s HR: Friend or Foe article, and the rumpus that followed in the online comments posted. While the perception of HR still lags behind the fate of the daleks in the popular imagination, other bloggers in the HR arena have also taken note and we’d like to point you at two particular examples. (For other links to interesting blog posts across the web, see our Crackers page.)

Guardian article paints HR as ‘double-agents, The smiling assassins’: Michael Carty has been posting a series of updates to his own original article, tracking other responses and reaction across the blogosphere, and there are signs that CIPD may be encouraging The Guardian to write a follow-up article
So, HR Manager, just who are you working for? A response from Flip Chart Fairy Tales, in which blogger Rick firmly adopts the position that HR are employees like anyone else and the role is to achieve the best outcome for the organisation and make calls when commerce and ethics collide. Fair points, but as his own commenters point out, without influence and trust, HR departments will struggle to achieve outcomes: HR needs PR to achieve HR?

31 May 2011

Fresh Crackers (33)

Posted by Ed under communication, crackers, HR, line managers, management, relationships, talent management | Tags: Depression, mental health, mind, Stress |
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This edition of Crackers (our occasional series that highlights valuable nuggets elsewhere on the blogosphere – see the full list) picks up two posts with a common source – a recent Mind survey on workplace stress. Back in 1991, American singer and pianist released an album called Old Songs for the New Depression: it seems in 2011, even the old songs have been forgotten but the depression affects the people more than the economy. A powerful workplace taboo, this very much a topic where openness can save not just the wellbeing of individuals but also the performance of organisations, which makes the powerfulness of the taboo all the more puzzling.

Failure to tackle workplace depression costing millions, as one in four workers suffer discrimination – a posting from the Open University’s Social Matters blog, where Dick Skellington highlights the increasing incidence of both stress and depression in workplaces, and the lack of managerial insight or sympathy. 25% of us, it seems, are never asked how we are, as mental health issues are swept under a metaphorical carpet, where their financial costs are as hidden as their human ones. With presenteeism costing the UK economy £16bn a year, Dick emphasises that employers can help where they “engage more fully with staff suffering mental ill-health and to create a culture of openness in the workplace, and a culture of care which supports workers and does not stigmatise or abuse them.”
Workers keep quiet about stress over redundancy fears – the survey is also picked up at People Management by James Burkett, who points out that “Work colleagues are still seen as unsympathetic to mental health difficulties, with seven in ten saying that they would not expect any support from their boss if they mentioned their stress. Four in ten described stress as a ‘taboo’ topic at work, while 46 per cent said that taking time off for stress was typically seen as an excuse for something else.”

A free employers’ brief guide, issued by Mind and the Federation of Small Businesses, Taking care of Business, is available as a downloadable PDF file.

7 April 2011

Fresh Crackers (32)

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, communication, crackers, HR, learning transfer, motivation, relationships, reward and recognition | Tags: knowledgement management, personality, psychometrics, social media, tim morris |
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Two very different posts from out there across the Interweb in today’s Crackers sign-post (for a full list of our Crackers – links to great blog postings elsewhere – please just click here).

I’m not an experience-seeking user, I’m a meaning-seeking human person: Tim Morris on how turning everything into a game or a social media experience isn’t necessarily a way forward. Or as he puts it in part: “This is why I’m sceptical about gamification: there’s enough […] pointless distractions in life already, we don’t need more of them, however beautiful the user experiences are. But what we do need more of is people making a commitment to doing something meaningful and building a shared pool of common value”.
Personality and Knowledge Management Behavior: our old friends at weknowmore.org, reporting of the impact of different personality types on behaviours to support (or undermine) knowledge managing and sharing activities, and recommend understanding each other as a shorter path to improvement than attempting to change each other’s personalities.

14 January 2011

Fresh Crackers (30)

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, communication, crackers, HR, management, relationships | Tags: corporate culture |
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As we mentioned earlier, rules and regulations seem to be topical. Maybe it’s the whole Nudge thing, maybe it’s just one of those passing moments where something catches our attention. We’ve felt moved to blog about it not once but twice in less than a month, so I hope it’s not just either insurrection or paranoia. But there are two items out there on the web that seemed to chime – the first on employee handbooks, the second a campaign along the lines of the UK’s recent Movember campaign – particularly in the context of the recent article about the UBS Dress Code. (For more of these snippets from around the web, see our Crackers page.)

Your Single Biggest Corporate Culture Document: one of our favourite bloggers, the HR Bartender, points out that your employee handbook is “the first document employees get that tells them what their career with your organization will be like”. If they’re reeling under pages of legalese, reacting badly to your presentation of your self-image, or communicating an unfortunate sense of organisational priorities, the time may have come for a rethink. We’ve talked about going beyond compliance recently too – and Sharlyn Lauby’s post (and the Creative Choas Consultant’s) suggests we are not the only ones open to some forward-facing wondering aloud.
‘Grow a beard for Belgium’ appeal by actor Poelvoorde – a little harder for everyone one to join in with, as symbolic gestures go, but a Belgian actor is using the power of social media to put pressure on his country’s leaders to resolve their differences and actually form a definitive government (the election took place last June). The France24 English-language news service has also covered the story. If UBS’s pilot study rolls out to Belgium, there will presumably be a dilemma for bankers concerned for stable government, but that’s a whole different can of worms …

23 November 2010

Fresh Crackers (28)

Posted by Ed under crackers, life, motivation | Tags: fun at work, office humour |
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Maybe it’s the widespread use of networked media nowadays, as the other thing that spreads nearly as fast as gossip is a good giggle, or maybe it’s the times we live in encouraging us all to seek opportunities for a therapeutic chuckle once in a while, but the idea of ‘fun at work’ being a) possible, b) possibly a good thing is definitely in the ether. Or whatever the digital equivalent of ether is. Indeed, one of the tags at Never Mind The Manager is ‘fun at work’, so the following two links to posts in the category are offered a) in the spirit of spreading a little happiness, and b) as a reminder that music might be a universal language, but humour sometimes doesn’t even travel across a desk. (For other Crackers from around the web, see our Crackers page.) (more…)

9 November 2010

Fresh Crackers (27)

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, communication, crackers, HR, leading performance, relationships | Tags: facebook, influencing, jon ingham, managers, persuasion, professional status, social media, theHRD |
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Influence is a complex topic. It’s not helped by lazy definitions of ‘influential’: Lady Gaga’s appearance in TIME’s 100 most influential people of 2010 doesn’t imply we’re all wearing lamps on our heads, playing grade 8 piano and draping ourselves in raw meat: it just means she has a number of friends on Facebook that undermines the meaning of ‘friend’.

But there are less flippant issues with ‘influential’: is influencing something that happens through media, articles, journals and august books, or is something that happens rather closer to home? What of the role of social media and other new channels as mediums for influence? Are different groups and generations being influenced in different ways by different people. How can a US-based author be more influential than the line manager whose oxygen we share 45 hours a week?

Two commentators have been responding:

Who are the new influencers?: the HRD reminds of the meaning of influence as “to affect or change how someone or something develops, behaves or thinks”, pointing our that none of the names on the lists in HR Magazine or HR Examiner have had a discernible impact on his daily life as an HRD director. For theHRD, influence is not delivered from above through a star system, but “a whole load of small things and discussions coming together to make a change”.
Who are the new influencers?: Jon Ingham, despite being listed highly by HR Examiner, also has his doubts about the HR Magazine list, and is “surprised to see just how similar it was to lists from previous years”. Like theHRD, Ingham is a commentator/practitioner for whom influence happens at a different level, and sees the new school of influences as “are who are connected to the rest of a community through the shortest path”.

9 September 2010

Fresh Crackers (26)

Posted by Ed under crackers, HR, organisational development, reward and recognition | Tags: fred nickols, training |
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Two very different views of the world of HR from the wider web have caught our attention to flag up for you, the first of which you might like to read in conjunction with our recent post, Rearranging the top table: a role for HR? and the second of which may raise a smile among those of who pondering where to take a late summer break. In their different ways, both articles provide a valuable mirror in which to reflect on the perceptions of HR and training functions from the outside of the goldfish bowl. (For a full list of our favourite items, pointing you to gems of wisdom from the web, see our Crackers page.)

A seat at the table: the trainer’s dilemma: a reflection by Fred Nickols at the Training Journal blogs on our readiness – as opposed to our desire – to have a seat at that mythical ‘top table’ as trainers, the impact that a change of role has on the individual and on the lingering perceptions of training, its purpose and value. A very thought provoking read.
1,000 Places To Visit Before You Die. Number 1,001: HR Shire: an altogether less profound and somber reflection of the world – or in this case, the fictional (?) shire – of HR, but still one that may provoke a wry smile as you pause to reflect that (like any profession) your intentions and good deeds may look slightly different viewed through other eyes.

1 July 2010

Fresh Crackers (23)

Posted by Ed under behavioural change, communication, crackers, evaluation, leadership development, life, motivation | Tags: change management, integrity, productivity, sustainability, working relationships |
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One of the obsessions of modern life is speed – everything must be faster than before, and everything is always urgent. Browsing the web – and mindful of some of the pearls of wisdom in Michael Foley’s The Age of Absurdity (reviewed here recently) – we thought we’d take a moment to point you to two posts that highlight different aspects of timescale and pace. (To see a complete list of all our signposts to some of the Web’s finer moments, see our Crackers page).

Patience.. Virtue And Discipline: Gwen Teatro’s You’re Not the Boss of Me is usually a thoughtful read. This post reminds us that patience has its benefits – supporting the development of late bloomers, encouraging us to reflect, probe and explore, and helping us make better decisions. Curiosity might be said to kill the cat, but surely impatience would do the same – only quicker?
Once Upon a Time: Wally Bock’s Three-Star Leadership blog is another great resource. Here, Wally benefits from the joint wisdoms of age and hindsight to remind us that, underneath the technology and the initiatives and the imperatives, there are human beings – and their habits and behaviours change slowly. Having the patience to distinguish between ‘change’ and ‘progress’ is definitely a virtue.

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