The Front Line

I have a busy job. I am responsible for a number of areas, along with some direct programs in Human Resources. I like to sit around and think big thoughts. In Strengths, I am high in Strategic, Intellection and Ideation. I like thinking, ideas and planning. Unfortunately, few employers pay employees to sit around and think, unless it's a think tank. I don't work for a think tank, so I actually have to produce. Something.

This is an incredibly busy time at work right now. We are planning the return of our faculty and staff. New people are starting, lots of churn, questions, meetings and tyranny of the urgent problems. We can feel the tension starting to build as many people get ready to return. And it affects us all.

There was a wonderful post on Evil HR Lady's blog about the front line. She wrote an excellent post (and her experience) about the importance of having your best people front and center. That post got me thinking about our front line. I believe that it is critical to have our best people front and center and that it is equally important to know what happens up there! Every so often, I enjoy a turn on the front line. I like to answer the phones, help the 'walk in' traffic and direct wayward souls looking for somewhere else, possibly anywhere else other than the HR office.

It is an excellent opportunity to experience first hand the phone calls, people and problems that start at the front. We have over time identified how and why people come in through the front door (or phone) and how we can be more efficient, at the same time helping people before they have to come to us. It's great to be able to ask the question - what did we miss and how could we make it better for you?

I had that opportunity on Friday to help some lost parents, talk to some new adjunct faculty and answer a few phone calls. A good reminder, timely reminder of what happens on the front line.

Shut up and listen!

I woke up this AM and for whatever reason, decided today was a day to not talk, just LISTEN. I think that I have been talking to much. Maybe its the blogging, here and other places. Maybe it's just the craziness of work right now, getting ready for the onslaught of returning faculty and students. Don't know. So in the spirit of whatever is moving me, today I am going to shut and listen. Unless I am accepting the Nobel Prize (unlikely) or have been asked to address our Cabinet (even more unlikely), I am going to shut up and listen. I am going to resist the urge to 'contribute' or 'yes, and'; instead I am going to encourage and affirm. Whatever. Whoever. Whenever.

And it should be easy because I am starting my day at the dentist.

Do you telecommute?

This feels like a flashback, something that we were talking about in the 1970s ... ok maybe not that long ago but here we are STILL talking about this.

In the Grand Rapids Press, our local newspaper, there was an article in the business section about telecommuting. The article focused on how employees surveyed at Steelcase are concerned that telecommuting could HURT their careers.

More than 80 percent believe working away from the office increases morale for employees and reduces staff turnover.

Contrast to:

More than 70 percent of those surveyed felt their companies prefer them in the office to control the work environment and prevent a decline in productivity.

That's crazy.

My employer strongly supports 'alternative work schedule' that allows people to flex time as needed. We have core business hours that we require covered, but allow and support employees who have needs outside 8-5. Not all positions qualify for flex time but we do our best.

What the article doesn't say is who was surveyed, their roles in the organization or when the survey was conducted. I would be curious to know the gender and length of service at Steelcase too . Regardless of the holes in the story, it did serve as a good reminder to make certain that our opportunities reflect our desires. And ensure that in our practices, we don't inadvertently punish those who elect to flex.

So you want my job?

Recently, I have had a number of people express interest into 'getting into' HR. Some times the inquiries are sort of irritating, like you can pick this up like a cold, any time during a career. Honestly, this work requires skill, flair, compassion, empathy, humor, education and experience.

Where else do you see this?

Candidates

A candidate brings her imaginary friend to an interview and asks for a chair for her.
An interviewing candidate informs me that geckos are climbing all over my walls during our interview. (That was probably an acid flashback)
A candidate brings Salary.com survey to the interview and advises me of what the proper offer will be.
Candidate defines working with a diverse community as gals, foreigners and Vietmanese. (check the spelling).
Candidate referred to himself in the third person for the ENTIRE INTERVIEW.

Employees
Employee likes to play Solitaire on the work computer and can't figure out why that's a problem. (Um, we don't employ professional Solitaire players)
Employee doesn't make it to work because it was just a day, "she didn't feel like working." Wow.
Employee didn't understand the rebuke from a married colleague. Can we say stalker? (He didn't last)
Two employees get into a fight over a paperweight.


Supervisors
Had a supervisor advise me on an employee problem, "well SOMEBODY needs to talk to her." (Well dude, that would be YOU)
Had a supervisor want to allow a psycho- employee retract a letter of resignation. Um no.
Had a supervisor, advocating for an employee raise, tell me personally that she really didn't want him to get anything. Really could I fire him? (Head shaking) WHAT??
Supervisor thinks we all need to 'hug more.' (Can we say harassment?)
Had a supervisor complain that our office thinks candidates just 'fall out of the sky." (Well actually, we keep them freeze-dried in the closet and when you call our office and place the order, we just add water).

Who WOULDN'T want this job?

Renovation

Life is what happens when you are making other plans. John Lennon.

I love that quote. Somehow I went from living in southern California working in the crazy business of technology to Michigan, working in higher education. We had no master plan. No calendar of events. Just the day-to-day, week-to-week, and month-to-month events that brought us from there to here.

So here we are. Redoing our house. We are in the end stages of renovating many of our dated rooms and we see the light at the end of the tunnel. Monday starts the kitchen. This is no small renovation; rather, this is a complete overhaul - redoing everything from the floors to the doors. It will involve chaos, anarchy and entropy. Everywhere. Sort of like work. The difference is that we have the most amazing contractor. Amazing. Honest. Fabulous work. Incredible product. During renovations of other parts of the house, I learned some amazing lessons. Having not had the experience of redoing a house even, this has been a delightful learning process.

RFP. Or Bid. Or whatever your industry calls it. We met with a couple of contractors and the selected contractors weren't the most expensive. Crazy. CRAZY. When I saw the work in their showroom, I realized how much capacity and skill this team brought to the table, it was an easy call. At work, I can get complacent with our providers and once in a while, it shouldn't and doesn't hurt to see what else is out there ... and how much it is going to cost.

Listen! And let others help. I am about the LEAST creative person I know. So we told everyone we know that we were redoing our kitchen. Even had a kitchen-redoing kind of party. Had tons of friends over to show them our contractor's proposal. Laid out plans and colors, wood and tile. Several friends had fabulous ideas that we have since incorporated -lighting ideas and a recessed door. And our contractors LOVED the idea.

Partnership. Every time our contractors have showed up to start work, we have everything ready to go. Rooms are cleaned out, cabinets emptied, doors and hinges removed, window treatments down and stored. Everything. This is a partnership. I have work to do too, and have to focus on my responsibilities to make things hum.

Get out of the way. Let professionals do their work. This is hard for me. In Strengths, I have high Input, and have to at times, physically restrain myself from jumping in a conversation. Even knowing absolutely NOTHING about construction, I couldn't help myself from offering Input (with high Ideation) to my builder. Bless his heart, he would thank me for my ideas and ignore me. And well he should. I learned to stay out of the way.

Attitude. They all LOVE their jobs. Construction in Michigan is not for the faint of heart. They all show up on time, keep their word, keep us informed, bring a critical eye to each project, finish on time and CRAZY, look for ways to save us money.

Outsource. They don't. All the staff working in our house, work for the company. No vendors, no outsourcing, no calendaring trouble, no schedule juggling. Almost no down time when working on a project. They commit to their employees and their employees commit us. What a concept.

Addressing problems. The test of a good partner is how they handle problems. We had one small problem on the second day of the very first project. The owner was out here the very next day and the problem was fixed by the end of the week. That easy.

This stuff isn't rocket science. Commitment, partnerships, listening, keeping your word, fixing problems, making things right, doing what you say you will - not rocket science. But they make it look so easy. And make us want to work with them - again and again. The question I ask myself on a fairly regular basis is, do people look forward to working with me? How would you answer that question?