I love rainbows.

When I was kid my mom had two antique perfume bottles on her dressers that had big prisms as stoppers. I loved when the sun would hit them and cast rainbows all over the room. I would lie on the floor and watch the rainbows move across the ceiling.

Human Resource departments, and particularly Learning and Development, are like prisms. Employees come in like a ray of sunshine, hit the prism and all the composite parts of the employee come into view. We hire people to do a job, and then, very often, once they are with us for a while we start to learn how much more they have to offer. That’s when the employee hits the prism and we get a peek at all the colors inside. We’re generally happy to see the sun, and we’re usually pretty glad when someone new joins our organization because they’re going to fill a need. As we get to know them we see their full spectrum.

We need rainbows in our organizations. You don’t want all your employees to be lockstep thinkers. We need some diversity of thought, of ideas, of solutions. Einstein is reputed to have said, “We will not solve the problems of today using the same thinking we used when we created them.” That’s the approach we need to foster in HR. Don’t  be afraid to promote different ways of getting the job done. There are as many paths to productivity as there are colors in the rainbow. Celebrate them all.

Here’s a very interesting query I received from a friend on behalf of her daughter. Perhaps you’ve felt like this. Perhaps this was you when you were her age. Perhaps I have some advice.

“My daughter will soon be 28 and she is applying to a PhD program at a prestigious Midwestern university in the area of human development.  But in the meantime, she is grappling with the, “I’m-28-and-is-this-all-there-is?” thoughts about life.

She has had very responsible jobs since graduating from college at age 20.  She spent two plus years, in the Peace Corps as an AIDS educator in Swaziland. She has been a successful writer and blogger on gender/sexuality issues.  She has self-published two books this year and the first reached #1 in two of Amazon’s categories for a couple weeks. She is a blog editor of a widely-read blog at a well-regarded site in her niche industry.  For two years she was a columnist for a Chicago newspaper.  There’s a bunch of other things she’s done including speaking and guest lecturing at colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford.  She knows I’m writing to you. If you have any suggestions, we would both be most grateful!”

And the question before us today is, “Is this all there is to life?”. Pretty simple. Yes. This is all there is. This is your life. But it sounds like she has made it an incredibly interesting one so far. Graduated college at 20. Peace Corps. Published author. Blog editor. Many 28-year-olds would give up their iPhone to have such a life. But she’s not done. Not by a long shot. Now she’s taking on her next challenge, committing to getting her PhD.

So I’m sorry, but have I missed something? Would she rather be sipping Stoli in Gstaad with czarinas doing lines of coke? I doubt it, but people think that’s glamorous. It’s not. Believe me, I know it without trying it. And it’s not her. She is crafting a life. It’s a lifelong task. Many people who get to be 28 think they should have it all figured out by now. I’m 57 and I’ve almost got some of it figured out. But whenever I think I can file something away as “Done”, something changes and I’m not done.

We’re never done. My father-in-law just turned 100. He’s not done. He’s still figuring things out. He reads constantly. History, biographies, science journals, Popular Mechanics, National Geographic. And this man never went to college because he graduated high school in June of 1930. And he’s the wisest man I’ve ever known. Because he’s spent a life crafting a life, learning how to live his life, and never thinking it was going to get easier. Just more challenging.

Challenges are good. They keep us young, they keep us on our toes, they keep us alive. Yes, my dear 28 year old wunderkind, this is all there is. And it’s a lot. Be thankful for it. Because the world is thankful for you even if it doesn’t express it much.

Keep giving, cause you’ve got a lot to give.
Keep learning, cause you’ve got a lot to learn.
Keep writing, cause you’ve got a lot to say, and you say it well. There are too many people who have no idea what they’re talking about and we can’t shut them up.
And keep questioning, because the search for meaning starts there.

Only the best,
Ron

Allison West, of Employment Practices Specialists (on the West Coast) has wonderfully captured some insights shared by Jerry Seinfeld at last week’s SHRM Conference. Now you may not think of Mr. Seinfeld as an HR practitioner, but Allison has distilled some of his thinking and applied it beautifully to Human Resources.  Thank you Allison for allowing me to share your thoughts here as we Continue the Conversation.

What I Learned From Jerry Seinfeld by Allison West
Last week Jerry Seinfeld was the entertainment at the SHRM Annual Conference held in Atlanta. He was dressed in a suit which I greatly admired – he took his audience seriously. He was in perfect form and had about 15,000 of us laughing for over an hour. Here are some takeaways from his wonderful performance:

1. Watch your tone. Now Jerry spent quite a bit of time relaying how his wife didn’t like his “tone.”  I am sure you can all relate whether it is your wife, husband or parents telling you about your tone.  When it comes to the workplace, how HR and managers relay their message is often impacted by the tone we use.  Pay attention to how others view your words, demeanor and intent. Do they line up?

2. Stop sitting so much.  Jerry’s opening routine was about sitting. We are all looking for the next place to sit.  One popular management technique is to manage by walking around. The same holds true for HR. Get up out of your chair and walk around – visit with employees and managers.  Let them know that your open door attitude goes both ways and that you are willing to get out of your chair to meet, greet and assist.  By walking around you may actually learn more about issues, concerns and ways you can help.

3.  Watch your words.  Pay attention to the words you use and how you use them – they have many meanings.  Ask folks for their definitions – listen and connect.  For example, an employee may say they feel “uncomfortable.”  I know what that word means and so do you. But, maybe the employee has a different definition and by asking you can gain insight to a particular issue going on.  The words we select can give away a lot of information – don’t miss out on a great opportunity to learn and be able to assist your employees.

Tone, Movement, and Language. Excellent reminders Allison, thanks for sharing.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July everyone.
Remember, fireworks, like HR, are best left in the hands of professionals!

Only the best,
Ron

It’s not often one puts Wayne Gretzky and George Orwell together in the same post, but stick with me on this one.

I heard this morning that Orbitz has a scientist working for them who has deduced that people who log in from Mac’s tend to book pricier hotel rooms than people who log in from PC’s. So now Orbitz shows more expensive options to people logging in from a Mac.

Talk about a job that didn’t exist ten years ago?

Much has been said about the fact that many of the jobs that today’s high school students will do don’t exist today. Earlier this year I wrote that the hot job for 2012 is Online Customer Retention Specialist as websites scramble to hold onto customers who can browse the competition with the click of a mouse. But did you ever think that someone would be tracking and analyzing your buying habits based on your access device?

Wayne Gretzky said one of the secrets of his success, along with lots of hard work, was “skating to where the puck was going, not where it is.” Most hockey players couldn’t anticipate that way, hence his nickname, The Great Gretzky.

To be great at crafting your career, you need to get good at anticipating where the jobs are going (and let’s not have any snide remarks about Bangalore, okay?). What will the economy and businesses demand you know how to do in the future? What will they need you to provide? How will work get done? Will you skate to where the jobs are?

We may not all get to do what we like in the future, but those who want to maintain steady employment will get better at identifying the trends and riding the wave to the next job.

As for Mr. Orwell, I’m not sure I like the fact that I’m not going to see the lowest priced options simply because of the computer I use. It’s a little too “Big Brother-y” for me. It’s sorta like a social media website changing my contact information without asking my permission (but Facebook would never do that, would they?). Orwell was a futurist who foresaw a dark future for a world in which the powers that be had too much information on everyone. So what hot job might he envision for 2013?

Social Media Privacy Consultant?

I was told something very interesting while presenting a workshop for an HR group in the health care industry.

98% of companies do reference/background checks on at least some of their applicants.
76% of companies do reference/background checks on all their applicants.
69% of people will check out a restaurant online, or ask a friend, before dining there.

But only 3% of people  check out a hospital before undergoing a procedure. Now I’m not talking about the ER. If I’m in an accident get me to the closest hospital you can. But we’re talking about planned or elective surgery and procedures. Most people choose the one that’s closest to home, easiest to get to, has the best visitor parking (really!), or that their physician is affiliated with. But they don’t take the time to investigate the hospital’s record themselves. I found this very surprising.

Why is it that we’re so particular about who we work with or where we eat but not as much when it comes to people who will be probing around inside us?  Why do we choose this part of our lives to operate on blind faith in our physician? If doctors were always right they wouldn’t need so much malpractice insurance.  But they are human.  And we owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to be just as diligent when considering healthcare as in other areas of our lives.

I’ve worked in HR for over 25 years now and these human beings we hire, interview and interact with never fail to amaze me. Summer has begun and it’s a season of injuries, at the beach, on hiking trails, on ballfields. Take care of yourself. And if you do need medical attention that isn’t in a crisis, maybe you’ll look twice, or even once, before you cross that hospital threshold .

Got a comment recently from a reader who asked about the name of this blog,
Continuing the Conversation.

“This is the first time I’ve written and we’ve never spoken. What conversation are we continuing?”

I believe in the power of communication. We need to keep the conversation going if we are going to resolve our differences and solve our problems. Mark Twain said, “There are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met.” Or maybe that was Annette. (readers, if you don’t know who “Annette” is ask your parents.) We may not have conversed before but if you’ve read anything I’ve written, or you know me, you know there are few things I like more than a good conversation. And I’ll keep talking into the wee hours. Because I believe that if we continue the conversation long enough we will find common ground. Or at the very least we’ll agree to disagree. That’s fine too. We don’t have to come around to your or my way of thinking except to agree to continue the conversation.

Because as long as we’re talking there is hope.

That’s why whether we have spoken a hundred times or never at all, I want to Continue the Conversation.

Only the best,
Ron

I heard another report this morning about the effect of the recession on minorities. They were talking specifically about African Americans and Latinos, as the report later explained. Now I’m not going to comment on the economy today but I do have some thoughts about the word minorities. Can’t we retire that word?

In the first place, if you’re reading this in parts of the U.S. such as California, Texas, or Florida, it’s completely inaccurate to refer to people of color as minorities. Look around people! Have you noticed that birth rates among people of color, while slowing from where they were in the last century, are still higher amongst people of color than among caucasians.  In many parts of the country, caucasians are the minority. So we need to be a lot more specific in describing people when we use the word “minority”. And maybe in a future post I can explore the use of the word “caucasian”. Most white people I know can’t trace their heritage to this small section of southern Russia.

My second beef is that minority is a divisive word. It separates people instead of connecting them. It screams “Them” and “Us”. And for decades the word was used as a not-so-subtle putdown. If you were a minority you were clearly not part of the power elite. You weren’t one of the cool kids. It was code. And people use code to hide things, like their true beliefs. People use code to withhold information from those who are different. This is why minorities is such an awful word and one we need to retire. It’s divisive, inaccurate and insulting.

Use inclusive, people first language. Refer to people by who they are instead of who they’re not. People of color, not minorities. People who use wheelchairs, not the disabled. People who were incarcerated, not ex-cons. If we continue to focus on the differences, and people’s perceived shortcomings, it’s going to be awfully hard for organizations to get people working together.

I blog on another site (http://www.facebook.com/SomeonesGonnaGetHired) addressing issues for people seeking jobs or to reinvigorate their careers. One of those posts was picked up by another blogger for a site with a specific focus. I was asked if I could modify the post and was happy to do so. The message is directed at one profession but resonates with anyone who has dealt with fear, false starts, and frustration.

Here’s “Never Give Up” with a special twist for writers. http://focusmatters.tumblr.com/post/22864268961/ronkatz

In the classic Broadway musical “Guys & Dolls” the two female leads share a wonderful duet called, “Marry the Man Today”. They commiserate over having fallen for two incorrigible gamblers and determine the solution is to marry the man today and, as they end the song, vow “to change his ways tomorrow!”

This, unfortunately, is an approach many recruiters use. They hire someone for his or her technical skills thinking that they can change the way the candidate achieves results to fit within the corporate culture of the organization.

Unfortunately the new hire is singing a song from an entirely different musical. The stirring anthem, “I Am What I Am”, from “La Cage Aux Folles”.  “Don’t try to change me,” says the new hire. “This is how I worked before and have been successful and that’s why you hired me so leave me alone to do the job you hired me for.”

Hmm. And this is generally when HR gets involved. Trying desperately to get everyone singing from the same score. Cue “Putting it Together” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George”. But how?

The key is to have HR involved much earlier in the process. Most managers are great at assessing if the candidate has the right technical skills. When it comes to assessing work styles and preferences, not so much. Partnering with HR early in the recruiting process, preferably before you’ve seen a single candidate, is the best way to avoid this disharmony. Clearly identify the skills candidates need as well as the behavioral competencies required to be successful in your environment. Just because the candidate filled this role in their last job with your competition doesn’t mean that the candidate will work as well in your workplace. Remember, it’s not just what they do, just as important is how they do it.

Putting on a musical takes tremendous collaboration. Assembling a productive staff that doesn’t fight for the limelight can be as daunting and as critical a task. Creating a team of the hiring manager and HR and then adding in the proper candidates ensures that by the final curtain we’ll all be singing that great number from “Dick Tracy,” “Back in Business!”

I have heard from at least three people in the past week who are afraid they may lose their job. Rumors fly round their companies, cuts are coming, productivity is down as people spend as much time on LinkedIn as on their work, motivation and engagement are so low they could slide under a sleeping snake without waking it. Lots of people are scared.

I’m scared that the service I get from these companies is going to suffer. Customer service comes from people and I am not confident that there will be enough people skilled in customer service to provide the quality service to which I’ve become accustomed. I love GoDaddy because the people I speak with there, and I always get a person not a recording, are like pit bulls with a bone. They will not let me off the phone or the chat until they are satisfied that I am satisfied. And they invariably follow up a day or so later to make sure the solution is working as I’d hoped. Please note that none of the people I’ve heard from work at GoDaddy and I’ve no reason to believe their customer service will flag.

Because they get it. The Wall Street Journal today said that customer service is the best PR a company can have. Because inevitably people talk about good customer service simply because it is so rare these days. (See, I just did it in the paragraph above!) Good customer service comes from good people who are secure in their abilities and the ability to do their jobs. Can you reasonably expect good service from someone who has seen 40% of her colleagues leave and is now doing the work of two or more people? I doubt it.

Cutting people is not a long term solution. Keeping customers is. Companies will retain customers through outstanding customer service that can only be achieved when there are enough people to get the job done right. And it costs way more to replace a customer than to retain one. Contrary to current thinking, cutting people cuts profits rather than make a lasting contribution to the bottom line. Senior leaders can’t afford such short term thinking.