HR’s Seat at the Table: 3 Tips to Earn and Leverage Your Value

Employers are requiring more of Human Resources than ever before. As more administrative functions are being outsourced and manager self-service processes are implemented, HR professionals must step up and provide a blend of strategic insights and operational discipline. This is new territory for some.

Many HR professionals are finding it’s often tricky to know how and when to gracefully assert themselves. You might be finding that once you’ve got the opportunity to participate in critical meetings, you’re not sure of your role and how to demonstrate your clear value.

Here are 3 tips to help you secure and leverage your seat at the table:

1. Know the organization’s top priorities. Determining where an organization is today and where it needs to go in the future, is critical for HR professionals.  One way to identify the top-priorities is to attend and pay attention in business meetings. I have seen far too many HR professionals skip strategic business meetings, thinking that they didn’t directly affect their work. Well, with that attitude, it won’t!

I say, attend, listen, take notes. Pay attention to topics that keep coming up but aren’t resolved. Watch to see who influences the discussions and decisions. What happens when an opposing view is raised? Every meeting will give you more information about how the organization operates and what is needed to achieve success overall.

2. Check your baggage to communicate with confidence. Being aware of and proactively addressing your fears before an important interaction can put you more at ease. Do you get nervous around people in positions of authority? Increase your confidence and minimize insecurities by seeing key organizational leaders as simply human, complete with fears and shortcomings of their own. This simple reframing helps you to exude a more confident demeanor.

3. Use a systems mindset to facilitate change. There are many elements that drive employees to perform. Policies, technology, cultural norms, competencies and incentives are all at play. If you are involved in an initiative to create a policy, consider the behavior change that the policy is really intended to drive. What is it exactly that you want employees to start or stop doing? If following the process outlined in the policy is a hassle or confusing and others seem to break policies without consequence, simply creating the policy won’t be sufficient to change the behavior. Work with your colleagues to determine what additional strategies may be necessary, such as coaching, simplifying the process, or providing incentives for compliance.

For more insights, practical tools and 9 business/strategic HRCI credits, register for Seat at the Table, a 6-week webinar series, starting September 23rd.

Don't make DUMB goals

Anytime I facilitate a goal setting retreat or give a presentation on the topic, I discuss SMART goals. Why is it that almost everyone has heard of the acronym but unfortunately most businesses goals are not SMART?  Well, it’s easier said than done.

Here’s my version of SMART:

Specific: Goals like “improve sales” or “reduce employee turnover” don’t tell us by how much.  From a Psychology standpoint, for goals to do the job of motivating us, we need to know when we’re almost there and when we’ve reached the finish line.

Measureable: Sometimes businesses get themselves wrapped up in being able to measure something perfectly, with all variables controlled, and don’t end up measuring anything at all. Others commit to metrics that are ridiculously strenuous and time consuming to collect. Any group who I have ever facilitated, who has selected a quick and easy measure that is close but maybe not perfect, has been happy with their measurement selection. Metrics are supposed to help more than hurt.

Achievable: Goals should stretch us a bit. When they are unreasonable though, we don’t even try. I find that people often check to make sure that each goal is achievable. Unfortunately, they fail to look at the goals together and consider the resources required to make all of the goals happen. Are they all achievable together?

Results-Oriented: This is where my version is more rigorous than others. I say that R is for Results orientation, instead of activity. Goals pack more punch when they are focused on what is to be accomplished, not just our efforts.

Here are some examples.

A) I had a goal to present at one or more professional association conference this year. Since I am not in control of whether or not the conference boards would choose me, I was prepared to submit multiple proposals for multiple conferences. I am proud to say that by the end of the year, I will have presented at three professional association conferences: 1) Society for Consulting Psychology in Atlanta in February, 2) Organization Development Network in San Jose in October, and 3) Oregon Mediation Association in Portland in November.

B) A common goal I see for employees is to take a class on a particular topic where improvement is needed. For example, “Melissa will attend a Customer Service training by the end of the 2^nd quarter”.  I say that a better goal would be for “Melissa’s customer satisfaction survey results to be improved by 25%.” While attending the class should help, it may not be sufficient. You as her leader or supporting HR/OD practitioner should be prepared for it to require more support. Melissa also needs to understand that actual improvement is what is required, not just checking the box for attending a class and possibly playing Angrybirds on her smart phone the whole time.

Time bound: This is the simplist of the tips. It is some time reference by which the goal is to be accomplished. It might be by a date on the calendar or certain number of days or weeks after something else has occurred.

What's Your "Low Barrier to Entry" Offering?

If you provide a service that is perceived by your prospective customers as: costly and/or having the potential to expose vulnerability (like seeing some weakness, seeing their finances, or seeing them naked), I highly recommend creating a smaller version of your offering that gives them an opportunity to get to know you as a service provider with less risk.

My classes and workshops are my “Low Barrier to Entry” offering. They are offered at a relatively low cost, typically $90 for a 3-hour program. In these, participants get valuable information, inspirations and insights, and they have an opportunity to see if they are interested in engaging me for something more substantial like a Leader Coaching or Strategic Planning program, an Accountability group, or a private training or retreat for their organization.

I’d love to hear your ideas on low barrier to entry offerings that you’ve tried or considered trying in your business.

Everybody Needs a Support System

As the lone employee of my own fledgling business and business coach to others in a similar spot, I am struck with the irony of how hard we are working to grow our networks, in service of growing our business yet often we feel so alone. Most business owners spend time at networking events making connections in hopes of new clients. This is as it should be.

Much less often done, but as important, is taking the time to cultivate professional relationships with a support system of like-minded business owners. I highly recommend that all small business owners develop some type of accountability group. I know many people who truly benefit from being part of a Masterminds type group. If you know the folks to pull together and have the where-with-all to facilitate it yourself, that is fantastic!

If you’d like to learn about the two accountability groups I’ll be facilitating starting in 2013, let me know. One is for Small Business Entrepreneurs (>3yrs in biz and have employees). The other is for Start-Up Service Provider Solopreneurs (<3yrs in biz, no employees, offering is better described as a service than a product).

Why Your Employee Training Isn't Working

Gone are the days when employees are just glad to have a job and will do whatever the boss says without any question. If your employee isn’t meeting performance expectations, it is your job to uncover why. Some managers explain the task that needs to get done, only to become disenchanted with the lack luster way the employee does the task….if they do it at all.

Instead of jumping straight to punishment or training, I suggest 4 areas to explore and in this order. I call this my Performance Diamond.

1) Expectation Clarity - Are the performance expectations clear? Perhaps you’ve explained as clearly as you know to do but perhaps have not checked for understanding.

2) System for Success - Are the operational systems set up for successful performance? Sometimes processes, tools and workload are unreasonably cumbersome, even for a superhero. Training isn’t going to help.

3) Competence - Does this employee possess the knowledge, skills, abilities and confidence to do the job? If not, then training, coaching, mentoring or practice can help.

4) Motivation - Is the employee motivated to achieve the performance expectations? Perhaps the employee needs to see how the task supports something that is of concern to him. I’ve seen a business owner explain to an employee the importance of following a particular process in terms of the efficiency that would be improved. Since the employee is motivated by customer care, the business owner had to rephrase the need to follow the process in terms of how that would enable employees to provide better customer care. Then she was motivated and followed the process.