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Final- The Twelve Lessons I Learned (Or Re-learned) in 2011 by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:13:42 +0000

This post will conclude a series on Twelve Lessons I Learned or Re Learned this Year. These final two are lessons that I am reminded of often. Within these two, I find challenge and reward.

Lesson Eleven

Your Lessons Can’t Be Forced On Others. My teenager reminds me of this daily. She has always been strong willed and independent. (I am not sure where she gets it really). She is determined to learn everything on her own and she is determined to do things her way. And from her, I was reminded that I need to let her. I have to trust that I gave her enough tools while she was growing up to make better choices and to learn from the few bad ones she makes a along the way.

When you consider how adults learn, we all know that it is not by listening to others anyway. However, I so often get the same response from managers when I ask how this employee or that employee should have known to make a better choice, ”They should have known because I told them right when they started not to do it that way.” However, did we tell them why it was important? Or did we share the result of doing it that way? Did we give them the tools to make the right decision? Or did we just tell them to do it that way because we said so?

We need to provide the tools to trust employees to make the right choice. And when they make the wrong one, we need to coach them through the process.

Lesson Twelve

HR is Still the Best Job on the Planet. Despite all the bad press we get, HR can have the biggest impact on the organization. When it is good, you can see all the positive impact and when it’s not so good, you can see that too. Figuring out how to do it well is part of the challenge and with all the change that comes within organizations, the challenge is constant. And despite the challenge, HR can be the most rewarding job in the company when you find what works for your organization and see real impact to the bottom line. Many organizations still don’t expect HR to impact the bottom line in a positive way and often when it happens, credit is given to operations or other leaders. That remains part of the challenge and I say it’s ok if someone else gets credit. If we are doing this for right reasons, that doesn’t matter anyway.

Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.

PART III-Twelve Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Year by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:12:08 +0000

HR is full of different roles and responsibilities and there are a ton of buzzwords that we love to throw around in organizations. We also love to use creative titles for people in HR. Companies do this for a variety of reasons, but mostly is a marketing campaign. We need some good marketing in HR, but we also need to realize the best marketing is providing a service that people want and need. Results happen and a key to HR success is tying all that activity we do to business impact. Below are some of lessons I was reminded of this year tied to the importance of HR and what we do. There a few buzzwords and rhymes thrown in for fun.

Lesson Eight

Ask don’t Tell. Guide don’t Provide. A key part of the job for an HR professional in the trenches, is coaching. We handle scenarios and issues from managers and employees at all levels. For many mid level HR professionals, this may take up 90% or more of their workload. Coaching in the HR world is the epitome of the old proverb, Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and you’ll feed him for a lifetime. It would be so much easier to give the man the fish. It would take less time to just give them the answer. But if you keep giving them the fish, they will keep coming back for the answer.

Lesson Nine

Synergy is the Key. Oh synergy is one of my favorite buzz words. While there are those who advise removing it from the language of the corporation, the message is still important. The different people, departments, unit, areas and however else you lump them together groups in organizations need to be working toward the same goal. And the culture in the organization must support this. This in one of those things that we all already know. We all know it is good, but how do we live it? How does it become part of the everyday? How do we make people feel comfortable enough, safe enough to share what they are working on with others to ensure alignment with bigger picture? I have seen it over and over. Everyone attends those meetings (you know the team ones to help us all be synergistic) and as soon as the attendees are out of the room, they are already thinking, “Enough of this BS, I need to get back to work.” They aren’t comfortable enough to share anything of real significance in the meeting because they are fearful that someone won’t agree or they are trying to avoid an argument. If you want alignment, build a culture of acceptance and questioning without the erosion of self-esteem.

Lesson Ten

The newest technology isn’t always what you need to fix your problems. New technology is fun. It can be a great time saver. Especially for those of us in HR responsible for the administrative work as well as the strategic stuff. If I could only automate this, I would have so much more time to work on the important stuff. However, be cautious. As mentioned in some of the earlier lessons, change is hard. New stuff takes time to learn and in the beginning it will likely cause a decrease in performance. Will the savings be worth the cost? Does it make sense for your organization? You have to figure that out first. Start with the analysis. What do you want to accomplish by the change? is a great question to start with. (Analysis should be a lesson on its own; I believe it is a very often missed step.)

Go ahead share your lessons and check back in a few days for the conclusion of this series.

Part II Twelve Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Year by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:59:23 +0000

This is installment two of a blog series about lessons I learned this year. Most of the lessons were just reminders of things that I learned awhile ago, but 2011 served as a as a year to be reminded of them. Below is a list of three more lessons all dealing with change.

Lesson Five

The secret to weight loss is still the same and so is the secret to organizational change. The secret to weight loss (baring medical conditions) is easy. If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less and exercise more. Feeling healthier can also be a result of eating a nutritious diet filled with lots of vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. Dieting often fails for some people because they fail to make it a lifestyle change. Or they get started and don’t see results right away, so they give up. Either way it takes a lifestyle change to keep it off. It’s the same thing with corporate change.

If you want to make lasting change in an organization, you have to change the lifestyle of the organization. For example, if you need your employees to take better care of customers, you have to build customer care into the organization at all levels and within all things. Customer care has to be rewarded, measures and focused on. It has to be modeled. It has to become a freakoutable (see previous post for more on freakoutables). It has to be so ingrained in the culture that is habitual for all despite who is or who is not looking.

Lesson Six

Change brings emotion. Many of us have at some point learned about the cycle of change. The cycle refers to the emotional stages one goes through when change occurs. The emotions include things like fear and denial with the end of the cycle being acceptance. What is missed by leaders sometimes is that people will move through that cycle at different rates. Sometimes the rate is acceptable and sometimes it’s not. When it’s not, we coach. When coaching fails, we make hard decisions. It’s just part of our cycle as HR Pros. Reducing the hard decisions though is where we really bring value to the organization.

Lesson Seven

Change brings emotion and emotion and logic don’t live well together. It seems as this one gets in way sometimes over and over. Emotion clouds reason and logic. It inhibits our ability to make rational decisions. It is why so often, people say the wrong thing when they are angry or upset. They lose their ability to filter and concentrate on what they need to say. Keeping emotions in check is a skill. A needed skill that may need developed for some or may bring the demise of others. Diffusing the emotions of others is also a skill. In my opinion a critical one for anyone in an HR or Leadership role. These skills can be learned and modeled and become part of the culture in the organization as well. Just like losing weight or dealing with any sustained change.

Twelve Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Year Part I by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:24:46 +0000

As the year comes to a close and I begin to reflect on the previous twelve months, I realize as adults we are always learning and re-learning important lessons. Many of the lessons I learned this year were simply reminders of lessons learned years ago. Below is the beginning of my list and will serve as part one for the Twelve Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Year blog series. These lessons are universal in many areas of life.

Lesson One

It’s not about me. This is an important lesson that crosses many areas of my life. As a parent, teacher and HR professional in the trenches it is important to focus on the bigger picture. Parenting isn’t about the instant gratification of giving my child want they want in the moment, it is about giving them what they what they need to develop the skills and abilities that will carry them through life. That also applies to my students and those with whom I work daily. It is so much easier for me to just handle the situation or give them the answer. But it shouldn’t be about what is easier for me, It should be about what is best for them. It isn’t about me.

Lesson Two

Growth can be painful. This is another lesson that is applicable in many areas of my life. While doing many of my workouts this past year, I have heard a voice in my head, that keeps me moving. It’s the voice of some trainer from a workout DVD repeating something like this, “Don’t give up when it gets hard. That is when the body is changing.” It is the same in all other aspects as well. Use your internal dialogue keep yourself focused on what you need and want to accomplish especially when it hard. This is when you will grow. This is when change happens.

Lesson Three

Know where you want to go and make a plan to get there. I am sure many of you have heard the saying that the difference in a dream and goal, is that the goal is written down and an action plan is in place. Don’t dream it, do it. Decide what you what you want to accomplish and get a plan in place to get there. If you aren’t sure where to start, don’t be afraid to reach out and get some help from someone in the field.

Lesson Four

Surround yourself with others and put yourself in situations where you can be your best self. Again, this lesson is so applicable in all areas of life. Regardless of what you want to accomplish or where you want to go, you will need encouragement and will need to avoid discouragement. Unfortunately discouragement comes in all forms and can even be disguised as encouragement. Seek out situations that will keep you focused. Finding other with a similar goal or interest is a great way to start. If you want to run a marathon, find a training partner and use a gadget to track your progress. If you want to change the culture in your company, find a professional organization or a coach to help you focused.

Don’t forget to check back for the rest of lessons. What lessons can you share?

You Have to Know When to FREAK OUT by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 22:07:45 +0000

Years ago, I worked in the retail industry as a multi-unit manager. During that time, I worked with a Director of Loss Prevention that would spend hours educating supervisors and managers on preventing store loss. Some of the most important things I learned during this tenure were things I learned from him. Some of them were the common Loss Prevention Messages:

Only a very small percentage of shrink is external (less than 10%)
The majority of shrink is caused by paper or operational fails
Everyone is a suspect
Complete your audits in an irregular pattern

However, the most important message he sent, “When the store employees fail to do this one thing (insert most important loss prevention topic), FREAK OUT; but don’t FREAK OUT all the time. Only on the big stuff.”

I find myself going back to this sentiment often. It is applicable nearly daily in HR and management. The key to doing it successfully is knowing the difference between the little things and the “Freakoutables.” (yes, I made up my own word).Now, I am not suggesting ignoring the little things. If it is important enough to have a policy around it, support the policy, just don’t FREAK OUT. If it isn’t, don’t waste time creating the policy to begin with; let the grownups be grownups.

Understanding what warrant s a FREAK OUT requires that HR know the business and also requires that HR communicates the HR stuff to the business folks. The business folks can’t make good HR decisions if they don’t know why their important and HR can’t make good business decisions if they don’t know the business. So if you want to somewhere to start, start there. And STOP FREAKING OUT about everything. Who has the time or the energy?

IS HR Selling Santa Claus? by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:35:32 +0000

During this holiday season, one can see images of Santa Claus everywhere. In fact, there is most likely a version of this jolly character in every room of my house. With all the decorating, the kids are starting to connect the dots and ask questions about whether or not there is a Santa Claus. The questions are logical and at this point still innocent and non accusatory. They still believe (I think), but they are starting to really analyze how this is all possible. Many of the answers I have provided at this point have been related to “the magic of Santa”; so now, the kids are asking if magic is real. And because it isn’t immediately predicated by a Santa question, I tell them no. And that’s where they are going to get it before I even realize that I have confirmed it for them.

How often does this very notion go on in your organizations? When was the last time you tried to sell your employees on some magic? Surely you can think of time when you spun the message to sound more positive or left out some details in a communication. Eventually like the kids, they will figure it out. However, unlike the kids, they can leave. Or they can stay and offer just a little less effort and put in a little less time.

Regardless of what they choose, you may lose. Communication is tough and sometimes HR is sales and marketing. Just make sure you aren’t selling Santa Claus.

Don’t Forget to Give Thanks for the Hard Stuff Too by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:31:57 +0000

In my last post, I discussed the positive effects of gratitude. During this time of Thanksgiving, it is easy for us to be thankful for the things in our life that we love and enjoy. However, how often do we show gratitude and give thanks for the things that were difficult for us or for things that were unpleasant? It reminds of the commonly used notion of Feedback as a gift. As much as it is, it can be hard to realize it when the gift you are receiving is negative or unflattering.

There are so many things that occur throughout our days that may seem unpleasant and negative. Especially in the field of Human Resources. We often find ourselves handling some of the most negative things in business. These situations are often intermingled throughout our week or our day with the more positive side of working with people. Throughout this dance of moving from the positive to the negative, the HR professional maintains the correct emotional composure and makes the job seem easy despite the number of people who say, “I could never do that.” or “How do you give such terrible news?” And I would bet for many HR pros, there may have been a time, when they said the same thing.

So today, I would like to give thanks and show gratitude for the difficult things that developed my ability to move through the HR moments a little better than I would have years ago. I also give thanks to challenges that I was given that helped me grow and develop my skills in other things as well.

Here’s a short list of what I am grateful for:

I am thankful the first termination meeting I had with a former peer. Shortly after being promoted, I realized I had to terminate a respected peer who was often able to get stellar results. Unfortunately, the results weren’t always achieved by following the rules. That meeting took an hour and it was painful for everyone involved. Afterward, I got the gift of great feedback from a seasoned HR professional who served as a witness.
I am thankful for two trainers I encountered at a conference years ago, for pushing me out of my comfort zone and making me practice for hours the art of coaching verses managing. The art of asking verses telling. And for reminding me that it is okay to have fun at work and celebrate success.
I am thankful for the promotions and/or jobs that I didn’t get. These forced me to look inside of myself to see what I needed to do differently.
I am thankful for every piece of feedback that I was given especially the ones that evoked that defensive protective emotion.

What do you have on your list?

HR Giving Thanks by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:59:29 +0000

Last November in honor of Thanksgiving, I discussed the need to practice gratitude in a post. Studies on gratitude show that people who practice it have lower levels of stress hormones in their blood, are in better physical health, sleep more and are happier (The Positivity Company). And while these benefits of gratitude affect the practitioner of gratitude(sometimes referred to as one having a gratitude attitude) they also have an impact on the receiver of the practice. As mentioned in my post last year, it creates a win-win. In HR we are often looking for the win-win and we spend hours trying to figure out ways in which to create it and build it into our cultures.

So in an effort to build happiness within myself and others, I am going to take the first step in building a culture of gratitude by practicing it right here. Here are the things that I am thankful for all year, but seem to only write about during November. In the coming year, I will work harder to practice this all year.

My husband. Without the support of my husband, I would not be able to spend hours doing what I love. He takes care of the little things that get missed while I am learning all I can about HR.
My Job. I get to go to work every week and do what I love. I get to spend time trying to figure out how to build a better culture, how to bring in the best talent, and how to make real impact from the HR department.
My Other Job. I love being able to work with HR students. They are so excited to get started in the field. Their enthusiasm about is inspiring.
Carter McNamara. Carter started this wonderful resource of information that can be accessed for free. He has provided a platform for me to write about one of my favorite topics.
Fellow HR Bloggers. There is a big list of bloggers that I read almost daily. I am inspired by their passion for moving our field forward. While this list doesn’t cover all of them here are a few of my favorites:

Ask a Manager
http://askamanager.org

CARNIVAL OF HR
http://carnivalofhr.blogspot.com/

Fistful of Talent – Kris Dunn
http://www.fistfuloftalent.com

HR Schoolhouse – Robin Schooling
http://hrschoolhouse.wordpress.com

Ohio Employer’s Law Blog- John T. Hyman

http://www.ohioemployerlawblog.com/

Rehaul by Lance Haun
http://rehaul.com

upstartHR by Ben Eubanks
http://www.UpstartHR.com

Ten Ways to Help Your Employees Make a Little Magic by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:49:41 +0000

In the early days of my retail career, I knew I had reached the ultimate level of success, when I could leave on vacation and return to no other messages than, “welcome back.” See before I reached this point, I would come back to work (most of the time a day or two early just so I could what was really going on in my absence) and there would be a long list of things that I needed to handle; there would be all kinds of things ranging from angry customers, to incomplete projects, to a dirty store. Somewhere after years of getting frustrating by this, I figured out how to engage and develop a team of employees to give whatever was needed to get the job done. Up to that point, I had always been really good at setting expectations and keeping people focused at work while I was there, but what happened when I left?

The answer to that question depended on who was there, but I wanted that to not matter anymore. I wanted it to always be good. I wanted every customer, every day to have the same experience. So I went on a mission to figure out how to make that happen. And the only thing I had to change was me. I was already good at setting expectations and holding people accountable to meet them. I was also pretty good at training people to do their jobs. But most of all, I was good at demolishing discretionary effort. That extra effort required of people when no one is looking. Being good at this was easy; realizing it needed to change was a bit more difficult. But when it I did change, magic happened.

Make your own magic and stop doing the things that kill discretionary effort.

Stop giving the answers all the time
Teach the reasons why so that people can make educated decisions when you aren’t there
If they make a decision and it is wrong, COACH them to see why another decision would be better
If they make a decision and it is right, give them credit
Thank them for just doing their jobs
Let them do their jobs
Refrain from stepping in and taking over for them- COACH later if needed
Admit when you are wrong
Be a good model every day
Ask about their goals, help them get there
Be flexible and open

Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com or visit www.sherimazurek.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz.

Partnerships that Work by Sheri Mazurek

Sheri Mazurek — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:08:15 +0000

Ten years ago today, I married my perfect match. And I don’t mean match in sense that we are exactly alike in every way. In fact in some ways, we are quite different. I like a nice top 40 radio station and good romantic comedy, while he prefers classic rock, Pink Floyd and science fiction thriller. I could care less is the house or my desk is a little messy, while he spends an enormous amount of time organizing and planning and putting things away. I am a last minute planner and he plans everything well in advance and wants to quiz me on the details over and over. And the laundry, well that’s best left without much detail.

You might assume we drive each other crazy; however, our union works for a couple of reasons. First, we both are considerate of the quirkiness of the other. When he works late, I make sure to put the dishes away so he doesn’t have to worry about when he gets home (and he would even if he was exhausted). He leaves me notes in the morning to remind me when it is library day at the kids’ school so I don’t forget to get the books in the backpacks. We work well together and we complement each other in the small ways.

The small ways are important, but the reason we work so well is really the bigger things. Our priorities are very aligned in every aspect of our lives and our foundational beliefs on what is important in life are the same. We both are committed to doing well in our professional lives, but we are even more committed to making sure we are good parents and good spouses. We see eye to eye on how we want to raise our children and where we want to spend our free time. We are working together to accomplish life goals. The important goals.

In this journey we are taking our differences aren’t negatives. They have made us a better team. Understanding that differences make a stronger unit or team is an often missed concept in many organizations. People like to be around the like-minded individuals and people often hire those who are more like them. However, failing to work in a group with members who compliment your areas of opportunity means your team is weaker than it could be. Don’t get me wrong, the foundational stuff has to be the same. If it is, then it will override the little stuff and comprise and compliment will result in a perfect match.

Happy Anniversary Ron.