Category: Organizational Development

Perfect Candidate

orgfitterLeave a Comment on Perfect Candidate

The HR field exists for a reason. Let us do our job. One of our specialties is recruiting. When you take HR duties and give them to someone else chaos or least inefficiency ensues.

Looking for perfection in an imperfect world sounds challenging if not impossible. I know someone that is experiencing not being perfect. Since there is no perfect person employers need to take advantage of the transferable skills applicants come with. I was sharing with this person that employers are lazy. They don’t want to take the time to study a resume. The laziness of employers leads to the frustration of job seekers.

ChristopherinHR

What price perfect?

A mark of the modern employment market is the seeming inability to find skilled, competent employees. Companies continually complain about the lack of fundamental skills in recent graduates while government clamors for increased STEM education.

But this mistates the situation.

Even as communities continue to recover from massive outsourcing and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression the truth about the job market is less complex and therefore even more shocking.

Companies are looking for perfect.

Somewhere along the way with the HR function fully complicit we lost sight of hiring people to do a job and started to think about hiring brand extensions. We started to look for people without any blemish professionally or interpersonally and turned hiring into a lottery as opposed to a competitive process.

The job market still functions at the extremes. For people with no absolute skill there are minimum…

View original post 395 more words

Change Management is a Paradigm Shift

orgfitter1 Comment on Change Management is a Paradigm Shift

Those of you that follow my blog know I’m all about Human Resources (HR) and Training and Development (T&D). However, this week I’m going to depart from the norm. I need to put some things in perspective.

My father passed away two months ago. He was the oldest of seven children. Those seven children produced more than 20 grandchildren. When someone passes away, the family goes through many changes. The challenge for me and my family is grieving (managing) the loss of my father. Our lives are changed forever. There’s a new paradigm we have to get used to.

Losing a loved one is one of the most traumatic experiences anyone can go through. And, as traumatic of an experience as this may be, my family and I have to adjust to a new way of living. Most people don’t like paradigm shifts especially when they’re negative.

In today’s rapidly changing workplace more people are experiencing paradigm shifts than not. Paradigm shifts can be good or bad depending on which side of the shift you’re on. Adjusting to something new and/or different isn’t easy. When you initially hear that a paradigm shift is on the horizon, your first response is to decide if you like it or not. Then you have to make the mental adjustments necessary to adapt to the shift(s) that are taking place. Adjusting to a paradigm shift is more mental than anything. If you’re not mentally on board with the shift, it’ll be difficult to live with the new paradigm.

The term change management is used so often that it’s being overused. I know the workplace is rapidly changing but gee wiz slow down with the overuse. People not in the HR and T&D industry, read and hear the term so often and in different contexts that the true meaning gets lost. Change management, in its simplest form means managing changes in the workplace.

Today’s workplace is changing so rapidly the term change management is not only a noun but it’s also a verb. It’s become a verb because it’s a skill-set that many employers are looking for. It’s a skill-set because of the technical expertise that is required to manage the change(s). The changes that are occurring are due to the economy, advancements in technology, and customer demands. The simple definition may be managing change but the execution requires a lot of skill.

Whether it’s in your personal life or the workplace, managing change is something we all have to do. We have to realize that a paradigm shift is upon us and try our best to make the necessary adjustments.

Appreciate Your Colleagues

orgfitterLeave a Comment on Appreciate Your Colleagues

A few weeks ago I attended ASTD’s International Conference and Expo #ASTD2014. After spending a couple of days with other T&D professionals, it reminded me why I’m passionate about T&D. As with any conference, you leave rejuvenated and excited ready to go back and apply what you learned. However, this year’s conference gave me another level of appreciation for my T&D colleagues. Listening to some of the difficulties other T&D professionals are having with management or clients made me feel normal. It was comforting to know that other people are having similar problems.

Some of their stories were so intense I wanted to hug some of my colleagues. The issues they were dealing with weighed on them so heavily they almost burst into tears. I also wanted to hug my colleagues (weather presenters or attendees) that provided solutions to the problems others were having. Watching people sympathize, empathize and provide solutions to other professionals was heart-warming.

As HR professionals (regardless of discipline), we are always talking about management providing recognition to employees. Why not look across the aisle at the person who is doing the same thing you’re doing and say, “Thank You”? Thank you for being so passionate about our profession. Thank you for sharing your experiences, I learned a lot from you. Thank you for the taking time to encourage me. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with me

We blog and tweet because we’re passionate about our profession. Every Friday, Christopher Demers does his weekly Best Blogs. Christopher highlights other bloggers because he appreciates the good information they provide other HR professionals. In the vein of appreciating other professionals there are several people I’d to thank; Halelly Azulay @HalellyAzulay, Dan Steer @dan_steer, Rory C. Trotter @SomethingDifferentHR, and Christopher Demers @ChristopherinHR. Thank you for spending time with me! Thank you for putting out good content for your colleagues.

I appreciate what you do for our profession. Keep up the good work and keep putting good information out there for the rest of us! Your labor for our profession is not in vain!

If you want to know other ways you can demonstrate appreciation for your colleagues, you can contact me at corjoejen@yahoo.com and http://www.linkedin.com/pub/cornell-jenkins/11/476/897/

Employees or Children

orgfitterLeave a Comment on Employees or Children

Who needs supervision more employees or children? Children between the ages of one and ten need a babysitter. Due to the lack of boundaries in the workplace managers view themselves as babysitters.

Just like children, employees are a product of their environment. In 2014 what type of environment are managers creating for their employees? When I was in the eighth grade every day in my algebra class was a circus. My teacher didn’t have control of the class. Her lack of control allowed me to sleep 2-3 days a week.

If managers don’t set expectations for their employees’ performance and behavior the employees will do whatever comes to mind. Regardless of age people need boundaries. Setting boundaries is the only way to properly govern the performance and behavior of employees.

Managers, if you need to treat your employees like children then by all means act accordingly. I had a supervisor that said I have no problem treating you all like children. My supervisor set expectations for her employees’ performance and behavior. She constantly communicated those expectations. The repetitiveness of her expectations made it difficult to forget how you were expected to conduct yourself. Managers what message are you communicating to your employees? Are you communicating expectations or mayhem?

Managers have the responsibility to create an environment in which employees can grow professionally. Mayhem creates an unhealthy work environment which produces sub-par performance. A healthy work environment allows employees to reach their potential.

A healthy work environment has boundaries that govern the actions and performance of its employees. People need boundaries and without them mayhem ensues.
If you want to create a healthy work environment I can be reached at:
corjoejen@yahoo.com and
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/cornell-jenkins/11/476/897/

Jessup, MD 301-466-6411 corjoejen@yahoo.com By appointment only.