When Goals, Metrics and even a KPI Can Make an Employee Act Crazy...
April 30, 2018
Up today on this topic over at Fistful of Talent - check it out by clicking this link!
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Up today on this topic over at Fistful of Talent - check it out by clicking this link!
Most of you know I founded another site called Fistful of Talent - we are getting ready to do something cool based off of the HQ series many of you play and have some fun in the process...
Fistful of Talent has teamed up with Paycor to bring you HQ for HR every Tuesday at 1PM, starting May 1st. We'll air five episodes with fifteen different HR leaders! Watching this could be the best 15 minutes of your day!
Sometimes the shortest posts are the most powerful...
I'm reading "Conspiracy" by Ryan Holiday, which is a recounting and analysis of the fall of Gawker. The book chronicles the fall of Gawker (a notorious site for rumors, gossip and publicly going after public figures), which fell into hard times when pro wrestler Hulk Hogan sued it for posting a sex video featuring him and a friend's wife in 2012.
The result of the lawsuit was a $140 million dollar judgment against Gawker, which shut the site down and caused a portfolio of sister sites to be sold off.
"Conspiracy" takes a look at the events that led to the lawsuit - namely Gawker outing technology investor Peter Thiel for being gay via a post in 2007, which led to Thiel smoldering and waiting for his opportunity to take down Gawker, which he did by providing all financial backing for the Hulk Hogan lawsuit. See this link for a timeline of what Holiday would consider to be the "conspiracy", a word that he doesn't use as negative - but factual and patient instead.
This nugget emerged in the first 5 pages of the book - Thiel (co-founder of PayPal and first investor to Facebook) has become famously associated with one question, which he uses in interviews and over long dinners:
"What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
Think about that question for a couple of minutes. Answer it yourself. You'll find the question is asking for a variety of things - information that might be perceived as negative by some, value systems for the individual, the hill you might die on if given the opportunity, etc.
That's a hard question to answer, especially in an interview setting. The best interviewers are mature enough to respect the hearty individual that answers it honestly and earnestly, knowing they can trust them to provide 100% candor. The small interviewer can't do that and likely would never ask the question - they're not intellectual deep enough to answer the question, so they likely won't ask it.
What important truth do very few people agree with you on? Damn.
A bit more problematic and soul searching than the ole' "what is your biggest weakness?"
Workplace Artifacts - objects or situations made by human beings, with specific cultural interest or meaning in the workplace.
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You know it's official when I make up my own definition, right? OFFICIAL...
I'm fascinated by the cultural and performance impact by a lot of the things we do in the workplace. Sometimes we're aware of what we are doing, sometimes we aren't. In both circumstances, the impact can be either positive of negative.
Take an executive calling someone into his or her office. I'm not talking about setting up a meeting, I'm talking about asking someone in the cube farm to come to their office - in a public way.
Take a look at the clip below from the Showtime Series "Billions", where Bobby Axelrod asks an employee (in this case, "Dollar" Bill Stern) to come to his office and proceeds to fake a verbal fight in a soundproof office. The clip is gold, so watch it and we'll talk after the jump (email subscribers click through to see clip below, be aware lots of language so earbuds required):
The messaging is obvious - every time you publicly ask an employee to come to your office (think, "John, can you come to my office" as you're walking by), you'll signaling multiple things:
1--You tone says it all. If you're mad or even neutral, people think something is wrong and the person in question is about to get lit up.
2--Who you ask to visit speaks volumes. Are you asking someone you would normally ask to come to your office or someone that doesn't usually have that access? The less often a person is in your office, the more it means when you DO ask them to come.
3--Body language - Once someone is into your office, what does your posture say? Two people standing is urgent in nature, which could be positive or negative. Both sitting in a relaxed position is usually good. The guest standing while the exec sits and looks angry is 100% bad.
4--What happens after the meeting is key. Dollar Bill tells Bobby to go F himself, and that message is clear. For most of the other meetings we have when employees are directed to visit your office, it's more subtle. Employee goes back to the desk and exec stays in office is neutral. Exec inviting someone else in right after a short meeting with that employee - especially that employee's manager - is crushingly bad. Exec doing MBWA (management by walking around) and being light hearted means it was all good.
Public requests for a visit to the office are (or should be) strategic in nature. Use them in negative ways as a manager on a regular basis, and you'll hurt your culture. But if you need to send a clear message that someone f'd up, it's a tool whose power should not be underestimated.
Want to know what professional level, Jedi Mind Trick "come to my office" looks like? When you use it to either deflate or create perceptions that you have favorites (deflate means you ask someone who is not perceived to be your favorite and break bread, and if you keep asking them, they become the new perceived favorite).
What's your favorite moment from the Billions clip? Mine is the "I'm going to poke you. Poke me back".
Gold.
Rant time people - This topic will be emotional for many of you - Merging on your way to work.
There are rules. You're antisocial and a bit of a moron if you don't follow the rules.
Let's do this:
Are we good? Can everyone chill the #### out and follow the rules?
Cool. I'll be attacking other important work-related guides in the future. Be sure to see this one on the rules for holding the elevator for others approaching.
Let's face it, HR could lead your company in being authentic, approachable and hell - just fun.
One opportunity you have is in your HR communications platform. Let's say you're sending out emails on a regular basis - maybe you even do a newsletter.You know what would make people read your stuff? If you had some fun along the way. Lucky for you, I've found a perfect clip to have some fun with.
Instagram video below from Stephen A. Smith, a sports broadcaster/opinion maker (email subscribers, click through if you don't see the embedded IG post below). The clip is a mashup of Stephen A. encouraging people - at varying volumes and intensities - to STAY OFF THE WEEEEEEEEED.
A lot of you can't put this in your HR comms stream. Some of you can! For those that can, what CAN you do to have some fun and make your employee base feel like you aren't the Police? Here's a sample comms plan for you next week:
Monday - Reminder to knock out one on ones with Direct Reports.
Tuesday - FSA reimbursement requirement reminder email.
Wednesday - Mentoring program blast email.
Friday - Reminder to STAY OFF THE WEEEEEEED.
Mash those things up, and you have gold. If you can't do it, figure out what you CAN do. Entertain them a little bit. They'll love you for it. And you'll take the power away from the people in your organization that say HR is a department that needs fixing.
(email subscribers, click through if you don't see the embedded IG post below)
OK, stay with me here HR friends...
It’s never been harder to gain the attention of the best candidates on the recruiting trail. After all, we are in peak economic cycle, the best candidates are gainfully/happily employed, and it’s easy for them to ignore your pitch for the open positions you’re working.
Never fear, the gang at Fistful of Talent (my other blog) is here to help. If you’re not getting the response rate you’d like on your initial candidate outreach, join us April 24th at 1pm ET/Noon CT, 10am PT for “I GOT YOUR TEXT: 5 Ways Smart HR Pros and Recruiters Use Technology and Communication Style to Close More Candidates,” and we’ll hit you with the following goodies:
• A rundown on how the smartest HR pros and recruiters are bringing Text/SMS and other tech platforms to their game to provide the immediacy every candidate, generation, and recruiting department craves.
• How the best HR pros and recruiters take it a step further and maximize their image by letting technology take care of early stage process and screenings.
• How world-class HR pros and recruiters use recruitment marketing elements (from their company and under their individual brand) to show candidates they are a “recruiter of choice”
• Why the best HR pros and recruiters never forgot to spend time looking great on more analog tools – voice mail, email – and a plan to stay connected with candidates between offer acceptance and start date.
The hot economy we’re living in means it’s hard to get the attention of the candidates you need. Join us on April 24th for “I GOT YOUR TEXT: 5 Ways Smart HR Pros and Recruiters Use Technology and Communication Style to Close More Candidates” and we’ll show you how to interrupt the pattern and get the talent you need for your open reqs.
You've been there if you recruit for a living or as part of your role.
You make contact with a candidate to set up a conversation. The candidate is really friendly, maybe even a little too frisky. He/she wants to come into the office to have a conversation - it's like they just got out of a sales/career seminar and have been told they need face to face conversations to break through the slump they're in related to finding a job.
You have more experience than that. You know that having them in before you determine whether they are a potential fit over the phone is a sucker's play.
Still they push to come in. You deflect and encourage them to take the phone call without dismissing them entirely.
I call this the "Pool or the Pond" moment from a classic scene with Billy Murray and Chevy Chase in Caddyshack (note, the aggressive candidate would be Carl, you are Ty - see diaglog below):
Carl: But, seriously, no b.s...if you ever want to rap or just get weird with somebody...You know...buddies.
Ty: I'll drop by. You drop by my place any time.
Carl: What's your address? You're on Briar, right?
Ty: Briar, yeah. Number 2.
Carl: Do you have a pool?
Ty: A pool and a pond. A pond would be good for you. Natural spring water.
Carl: Anything would be good.
The pool is what the candidate wants - a live visit to your office. The pond is what you want - a phone call to make sure you're not dealing with someone that can't do the job or fit what you need - before you have to offer them a Fresca and an hour of your life.
The pond would be good for you - Natural spring water and all...
Classic video below - email subscribers click through for the video.
"Jonestown on Vitamin Water"
-anonymous Glassdoor reviewer on life at Vaynermedia...
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Admit it. You read that quote from a reviewer on Glassdoor and thought, "yep, that could be one of our disgruntled ex-employees on Glassdoor, but they aren't that witty."
Glassdoor is an interesting beast. It used to be that it was all disgruntled people you fired reviewing you on Glassdoor, but that's no longer the case. The review economy via Trip Advisor, Yelp and 1,000 other review sites has normalized who reviews you and other industries in the smartphone era.
I found the video below from VaynerMedia CEO Gary V - a noted thought leader in the digital and entrepreneurial space - which finds him digging deep on his company's Glassdoor reviews. His company is a hard charging company and he's a hard charging leader.
Find the VaynerMedia home page on Glassdoor by clicking here - overall rating of 3.0 and 46% of reviewers approve of CEO. That means Gary V is polarizing (duh if you know him) and the culture he's built is polarizing as well.
Video below, email subscribers click through if you can't see the player. Worth your time as you'll find a 5-minute video talking about the mindset of the Glassdoor reviewer, his refusal to ask existing employees for positive reviews and his hope that those who left scathing reviews got the poison out of their system and are ready to move forward.
Gold - take a look, you won't regret.
Joined Tim Sackett from FOT for the podcast below - enjoy!!
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Welcome to Recruiter Confessions! Sponsored by Canvas (gocanvas.io) and brought to you by the talent pros at Fistful of Talent (fistfuloftalent.com), this podcast is made for recruiters, by recruiters. Every month, host Tim Sackett will bring on a different recruiter co-host to share:
--Hiring horror stories
--The secrets recruiters keep to themselves during the hiring process
--Silver bullets you can take back with you to your recruiting shop
For our premiere episode, Tim Sackett sits down with Kris Dunn, founder of Fistful of Talent. Kris shares a recruiting story for the books, involving a Christmas Eve offer and unbudging hiring manager. Together they discuss the judgments passed on candidates' social profiles and the ways recruiters can use things like email marketing and texting to increase their applicant pool and boost their candidate experience.