Do you know the talent sitting around your Thanksgiving extended family table? I remember when I first took my husband to a small town family reunion in rural Iowa. My extended family is a farming family, and they are nearly all based in the same community where they grew up. I knew it would be interesting for him to meet the characters I know as family. However, I was a little nervous about how long the conversations might hold his attention. Then we started talking to my cousin Steve.

Steve is a brilliant farmer. He taught us about the science involved in farming. His farm is one of the largest family-owned organic farms in the state of Iowa. He’s an officer in multiple associations promoting organic farming, and has been doing this for 2 decades. I bet that’s longer than most of you have been buying organic food. He is fascinating and has improved our understanding of food, as well as the food chain. We now visit his farm at every trip to my Grandma’s. It’s the highlight of my son’s visit to climb on the hay bales and run crazy in the fields where I used to do the same thing as a kid.

I am so very thankful that we explored the family I have, and really dove into what they know. I have learned a great deal from many family members over time. We are different nationalities, practice different professions, and have MANY different life perspectives. I also have my fair share of interesting characters that could generate hours of water cooler stories. I accept them, and they often can be a great study in human nature.

Be thankful for your family, even the in-laws. If it wasn’t for them, you wouldn’t have your significant other. Explore what your family is really interested in. Seek out the most interesting person you can find in the group. Learn something new. Change the subject a few times until you find something you can share. I bet you’ll be rewarded, at least in small ways and, I hope, in large ways.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Lois

In this economy, most organizations will greatly slow down their hiring. They have to be more cautious about extending themselves. Yet the talent crunch is not going to go away. We will recover from the recession, and then we’ll face the looming reduction of employees available for our growth. Our projects, product design, sales initiatives, and innovations go onward; their success is more important then ever. And that brings us to knowing and caring for our current people.

Head count reports of various types are the most requested reports into HR. They are even more important now – if they’re the right reports being used the right way. We need to know our employees. Who are they? How many of them are there? What are their competencies? What jobs do they do? We need to make sure we hang on to the right people and get them into the most productive roles possible. We must create efficiencies within innovation. We need sparks of creativity to ignite new ways of doing business. This is how America has pulled out of tough economic situations before. But we can’t innovate our way to greatness if we let the great employees go.

In a poll this month conducted by the Conference Board, a global independent membership organization working in the public interest, about layoffs, the focus is directed toward precision layoffs. This means fewer voluntary packages will be offered to leave a job. Companies can be very selective about who they let go. HR must be very careful about their selection of who they let go. You don’t want to be the person responsible for letting an A Player go and keeping a B Player. Retaining great talent is critical. Business Week’s recent article, “Career Advancement in Tough Times,” says ’the time to shine’ in your career is now. It’s a good idea to watch for individuals who bring answers and great ideas to the table. Who is bringing value to the organization? Great ideas, not just great cost cutting, will move companies into the thrive stage of this economy. This has to be done with the people of an organization.

If you’re facing employee layoffs, I suggest you be VERY careful and help your company be very careful about the selection of who exits. There may be positions in your company that need the players you’re considering cutting. Do you know where those positions are? I recommend that you filter and sort your people in many ways to get the sense of which positions they could succeed. Make sure you build your succession plan deep into your bench with the employee base you have now, so that before you cut employees, you know who you’re planning as best successors in the future. Make sure you don’t cut rising stars and high potential employees. Your attention to detail in HR will be more important now than ever.

Cheers,
Lois

When I was 18, I volunteered to help with a local judging competition of ad agency work. I wasn’t qualified to be a judge. I was qualified to be the hostess for our out-of-town judges. I made a connection with one of the judges, Rich Flora, with whom I have since enjoyed a relationship which has evolved from career mentor, to vendor, to informal life coach, to dearest of friends for the last 24 years. What I learned from him about Dallas even had an influence over my decision to move here. Rich is a writing genius, yet I believe his leadership skills are his truest calling.

Rich taught me how to be a mentor, although I don’t think he knows it. Rich has asked me deep questions that make me really think. He leads me to make my own decisions, because only I know the answers to those big questions for myself. He never tells me what to do, but I walk away from our conversations wiser and ready to make my decisions. The leadership and mentoring skills he has shown me, have shaped my life as I have progressed from the bottom of the organizational chart to the top of my own organigram.

I now try to use his techniques of questioning, guiding, and leading in my parenting, mentoring, and corporate leadership. Finding the needs and concerns of my colleagues through questions that don’t put them on the spot, reading between the lines but not making assumptions, and truly caring about the outcome of each conversation because every interaction matters, are the traits Rich has taught me. I am still being mentored by Rich in life lessons as we occasionally meet over Indian food and great laughs. He likely doesn’t realize it, but I leave each of those lunches recharged and feeling like a million bucks. I have not refined my mentoring skills to his level, yet. But I’m working on it.

I have been on the receiving side of many mentoring relationships and am doing my best to ‘pay-it-forward’ as I mentor others. The more I think about it, the more I realize that the best leadership I provide is when I go into the mode of mentoring others through achieving their objectives.

Thank you, Rich!

Cheers,
Lois

Do you work with HR technology? Do you have a need to share that technology work with others in order to support HR functions within their organizations? When we are in the company of those who share our needs, our hassles, our strengths, and our goals, we often find that we can excel even further. This is why we join organizations that can provide us with a network of like-minded colleagues.

If you work in HR technology, I highly encourage you to explore IHRIM.org, the International Association for Human Resources Information Management. To give you an idea of the organization, here is the IHRIM Vision Statement: The Recognized Authority on Human Resource Systems and Technology. This is the  IHRIM Mission Statement: To Be the Leading Professional Association for Knowledge, Education and Solutions Supporting Human Capital Management.

IHRIM is where you can receive education about technology, project management, implementations, and all things around Human Resource Information Technology. Succession Planning, Talent Management, HRIS Upgrades, Payroll, Workforce Metrics, Balance Scorecards; all of these topics are shared within the IHRIM association. Webinars, training, a social networking tool for members to connect, and a conference for education and networking are all benefits of membership.

It’s important to network with those who can help you do your job – and that’s what you get when you network within IHRIM. I must disclose that I have recently been elected to serve on the IHRIM board starting in 2009. I agreed to support this organization because, during the last 13 years, I have met some of the greatest people and had the most wonderful professional relationships within the IHRIM membership. It is my privilege to support the organization. These comments are mine and not part of my role as a board member.

I hope you will look at the benefits of IHRIM for you or for your team members who want to – and should – benefit from the collective knowledge pool of such a talent filled organization.

Cheers,
Lois