Best Resolutions for HR in 2009

When I wrote last year’s Best Resolutions article, it was very clear that the HR leaders in the country could see big trouble coming right around the corner. And now that it’s here, the question has become: How does HR handle the people side of business now in such a way that we will emerge from this unprecedented time powerful, proud of how we’ve managed these tough times and with our corporate cultures intact? Employee engagement is difficult enough when times are good. But now that times are bad by every possible measure, this is where we discover the essential ways that HR can continue its leadership role to drive the company toward a future outcome that everyone can be proud of.

With that in mind, here is what HR leaders are recommending to be some of the Best Resolutions for HR in 2009:

Resolution #1: I will tell the truth. David Russo, former Senior Vice President of HR of the famously engaging SAS Institute, and now CEO of Eno River Associates, follows up that resolution with this mandate: “HR will not participate in sugar-coating problems. HR will not allow the organizations to either broadbrush or whitewash situations. HR will face up to management and hold their feet to the fire.

"HR will handle things such as re-engineering, downsizing, right-sizing, diversification, and divestiture with honesty, logical business purpose and compassion. HR will not become a partner to bloodletting. HR will tell the truth: ‘This is what we’re going to do, and this is why we have to do it. This is survival mode and this how we’re going to survive.’ HR will make sure that by telling the truth that the best right people are not sacrificed in an effort to stem the tide.

“If it’s communicating up, horizontally, or down, I’m going to tell the truth,” recommends Russo as a resolution for all HR professionals.

“And don’t get wrapped up in little protective lies that turn into big hate-filled conundrums,” he concludes. “When that happens, the trust would be gone forever.”

Resolution #2: I will hold onto the commitment of employee engagement now more than ever. No company can ever afford to be cavalier about customer service and the customer value proposition. Ever. Especially now. And the thing that we’ve learned about employee engagement over recent years is how inextricably linked the engaged employee is to the quality of the customer service promise. So, even though companies must lay people off and cut resources back to the bare bone, they still have to do it in a way that’s consistent with the established employee value proposition.

Says Loren Nalewanski, Vice President, Lodging HR – Work Environment, Marriott International: “The time is ripe for us to ensure we handle all these difficult decisions with dignity and respect for the individual. We have to be making smart, critical decisions that allow us to emerge beyond ‘09 and into ‘10, and even beyond, very very strong. And we have to have the right mindset about our people as we move into this difficult year and not make knee jerk reactions to what’s happening all around us.”

Resolution #3: I will be even more passionate about working with leaders to become positively clear about their personal values, their moral compass, and what they stand for. Says Courtney Harrison, former Managing Director of HR for the U.S. Olympic Committee and now senior faculty member of the Center for Creative Leadership, “We keep seeing companies that are going bankrupt, laying off masses of people, or under investigation for legal issues. We’re watching people get led away in handcuffs. And every time we watch another one of these scandals, we think, 'Well, at least we learned our lesson.' But it still keeps happening.

“Good HR people know that the solution doesn’t lie in putting together a one day class on ethics or establishing an ethics policy. True leadership, especially in today’s world is about risk taking, courage, and standing up for what you believe is right.

“Leaders need to be absolutely grounded in who they are,” she says. “And this requires a personal investment and discipline to be reflective. It takes time, and potentially money. And their organizations must be willing to invest in the pursuit of more personal exploration.

“In tough economies, the few great companies out there stand out because they’re the ones that forge ahead with leadership and leadership work,” says Harrison. “They don’t say, ‘we’re pulling back on it because we can’t afford it.’ If there’s ever a time to afford it, it’s now when you need it."

Resolution #4: I will take the leadership role in moving the company forward in creative uses of people. Says Lauren Doliva, Managing Partner, Chief Advisor Network, Heidrick & Struggles, “Companies may be trying to reshape themselves in the context of reductions in force, but in about six months to a year, they are going to discover that there is still work to do. But now there are fewer people to do it. Now’s the opportunity to think about how you’re going to reshape the process of getting your work done.”

The Free Agent idea is alive and well. And those free agents may be the very people you laid off a few weeks or months before. They know the workings and culture of your organization, their relationships with your clients, vendors, etc., are still current. And they may be willing to take your calls now – now that they’ve had the chance to process the shock of having been laid off. Whether you choose to go with the people you laid off from the company, or bring in entirely fresh cadres of talent and innovation, open your mind to the notion of bringing in the best people for the projects at hand.

Resolution #5: I will remind myself that this is a marathon and not let the current economic crisis alter our strategy and focus on acquiring and retaining the best talent possible. Julie Weber, Senior Director, People, for Southwest Airliines, says that you may have slowed down new hiring – maybe even shut down that pipe completely – for the time being, but don’t lose sight of the fact that you’ll be hiring again one of these days. And effective recruiting necessitates a long ramp up of identifying and cultivating relationships with your target talent. Don’t wait until you need them to spring into action. You will already be too late.

“From a recruiting perspective, she says, “I might be tempted to just turn off the recruiting machine and focus on something else for a while. But recruiting is a marathon, and over time conditions will change. We have got to keep those recruiting fires burning. We have got to keep ourselves in the game. We have to continue to be out there promoting Southwest as a strong employer. We have to continue to stay on top of where the great candidates are from a strategic sourcing perspective.

“You may not be building for this afternoon, but you’re recruiting for the next two or three years. Take college recruiting, for example. In order to get the best talent that’s out there you have to start finding those students and talking to them early on in their college career. Not when they’re seniors. College recruiting isn’t something that you can just turn on quickly and be successful at it."

Resolution #6: I will help my organization retain its confidence and competence so that we can get through this. Says Marianne Jackson, Senior Vice President of HR, Blue Shield of California, “We have a good number of people in the Gen X and Millennial generations who have never had to lead through such a remarkable economic crisis. It’s HR’s role to help people keep things in perspective and to discover ways to use innovation to sort through challenges that require solutions that are unlike anything they’ve used before.

“When we’re talking about how HR can help an organization come out the other side of a crisis stronger than before, the usual thing to do is to hunker down and cost manage, do lay-offs, slow down hiring, and try to manage through the implications and effects the crisis has on your brand.

“In this case, we have to focus on the confidence of both the organization and its people. This crisis is hitting everyone – often twice in the same household if both wage-earners are laid off. Then as people lose confidence they lose their ability to innovate. So we have to be committed to providing a lot of compassion.”

Resolution #7: I will stay on top of how my people are handling this crisis personally. Senior Vice President of HR for Lowes, Maureen Ausura, agrees with Marianne. “It’s easy for management to take it for granted that when employees show up for work, they leave their personal troubles in the car. And, even though there is an historical crisis going on right now, we expect there to be no change in their performance.

“So our profession this year needs to make sure we know how our employees are feeling and how we can help."

I’ve already heard those dreaded words that I thought we had left behind in the 1970’s: “They should just be grateful to have a job.”

When I raised that issue with Maureen – strictly from a devil’s advocate perspective, of course, she said:

“That attitude is extremely short-sighted. We know that customer service and satisfaction is what distinguishes Lowes. And our employees are not going to be serving our customers if we’re not serving them. Employee engagement principles drive so many positive business results, that to replace them with the point of view that we’ll just replace them if they’re not performing is extremely short-sited.
“If you damage your reputation as a great employer now, it will take a long time to recover. You can’t just all of a sudden say, “Oh! Now we want to be an employer-of-choice again. People have very long memories.”

Your Toxic Stars Could Be Killing Your Culture

When it comes to high-impact recruiting, attracting and keeping industry superstars is hard enough. But that’s nothing compared with drawing the line with them if they start turning toxic on you. It may be one of the most painful things managers will have to do. But it’s essential, especially if you have built a company culture that is committed to an engaged, collegial workplace environment.

In the ideal world rules of engagement should apply equally to everyone. But who said this is an ideal world? Some employees are crucial to your company for a variety of reasons – or at least they make you believe they are. Because of their talents, abilities, network, fame, they’re gold in your hand. They know it. You know it. And they know you know it. You worked very hard to find them, attract their attention, negotiate a killer contract and make them all nice and comfy in their new company home.

But eventually signs start cropping up that this might be a bad fit. And a stain of demoralization is spreading through your company like food coloring in a glass of water. There’s no ignoring it, but, oh my gosh, what do you do? What kind of leverage do you have with someone who thinks he’s “all that?” If you lay down the law, they could quit in a huff. Or maybe you have to fire the person? Do you really?

David Russo, former svp/hr of the famously engaged SAS Institute (and now head of his own management consulting firm, Eno River Associates), says it’s possible to keep your stars and neutralize whatever toxicity some might bring to your organization. But, in the process, as the HR leader, you could be facing your own moment of truth as the respected advisor to the organization.

Last weekend we talked about it. Here are his thoughts.

Let’s define some terms first. What is a star?

Stars offer the promise of big thinking and big delivery. They have a tremendous record of achievement; they’re dynamic with remarkable and sustainable energy. And they offer your company access to extraordinary capabilities or customers. Any combination of those characteristics makes a person a star.

So what’s a toxic star?

Toxic stars are legitimate big-time A Players who play havoc on the organization. And as a result the organization suffers in the long term. Toxic stars have all the creds, all the talent, everything you would want in the package, but because of their behaviors, their ego, or lack of sensitivity, they rip the organization apart. They can’t keep a staff, and the organization suffers because good people leave. Or the star denigrates everyone else – hitting at their self-esteem and confidence, so the entire team can’t be all it can be. Or maybe the star’s brilliant, but you have to keep him or her out of the public eye or away from clients because their behavior is so abominable. And because they can’t be trusted to interact with clients and prospects, their value to the company is reduced significantly.

What kinds of problems do these people pose to the company’s organizational interests?

The company loses the ability to retain other good people because they’re either put off by the star’s behavior, or personally attacked by that individual, or their work is discounted. When someone is a jerk, especially when that person is a star with the power and influence that goes along with being a star, his or her ability to create and sustain a hostile work environment is real. This kind of behavior creates an atmosphere where people don’t concentrate well or they lose their enthusiasm. Or they’re fearful of making mistakes and being lambasted in front of others. Or they lose faith that the project they’re working on will be seen through to completion, and they’ll be embarrassed.

And, once the word gets out on the street that this person is in your company, you’re going to have a harder time attracting other good people – especially anyone who has worked with him or her in the past.

And you could actually lose business. If you have someone on staff who is brilliant, you naturally want him or her to meet your clients or prospects. But if their behaviors are offensive in any way, it’s a guarantee that your business will suffer.

Finally, the company’s reputation is on the line. Let’s say your company wants to establish itself as a wonderful place to work and conducive to people doing great work – a high performance work environment. If the company is willing to turn a blind eye to toxic behavior, it throws the authenticity of the company’s mission and message into doubt. Companies can’t broadcast themselves as a place with high respect for people and have these exceptions who are allowed to do whatever they want because of their brilliance.

So what do you do?

You use this as an opportunity to test the legitimacy of what kind of place you want your workplace to be. Identify what kinds of positive behaviors the organization wants to model. And then identify what negative impacts this person is posing to the company. Show this person what he or she has to do to match the positive model. And let that person know that failure to align with the positive model means he or she has to go. You take the risk of losing that individual brilliance to a competitor. But you go forward knowing two things for sure: 1) your former star is spreading his/her poison in the camp of your enemy; 2) that the energy that was focused on dealing with negative behavior can now be channeled to positive outcomes.

This is a major moment of truth for the HR person in that they may not necessarily have the authorization to terminate this person.

HR leaders should never have the authority to terminate. Their role is to be the advisor to the organization. Their job is to go to the management who oversees this person and say, “This is a problem. We need to recognize it, and deal with it. If we don’t deal with it, here are the downsides….”

Historically, though, management is absolutely scared to death of losing the talents of someone who is gifted. So HR can be ignored. Management can have the attitude, “Oh he’s not so bad. He’s producing. So let’s leave him alone. We’ll just isolate him.”

But then again you also see way too many times that HR fails to step up to the plate. Sometimes they’re the first to bail on the fact that there is a problem.

What do you recommend that HR people do to enforce the standard of an engaging culture?

First of all, there has to be a standard. The company has to be willing to say, “We want to be respectful and caring of our people. We have a way that we will behave as a group and as individuals.” If they can’t say that, HR would be crazy to step up when there’s no value system being violated.

But let’s assume that there’s a pronounced, aspirational value system that’s being violated. HR has to say, “Are we serious about this? If so, this is a problem. If we’re not serious about it, let’s not kid ourselves and try to kid anybody else.”

So HR, in this particular context, is the reality meter, posing the question to management, “How real are we really going to be in this particular situation?”

Right. You say, “This is our aspiration, this is the stuff we’re putting on our posters, website, branding messages. Now, here’s the situation we’re facing with this person. Let’s test ourselves: Are we willing to stand behind what we say?” This is how HR earns its pay.

Does tolerating the presence of a toxic star reflect badly on the HR leader, even if the HR person may have no authorization to fire that person?

Sure. What’s HR’s job? To help the organization build and sustain competitive advantage through people. If you’re not helping all the people be all that they can be, then you’re not doing your job.

Your job is to hold these negative behaviors up to the light. If management doesn’t want to hear it, even though you’ve done your advising, then you come to a different question: Do you want to work for a company in a role where HR cannot influence the organization to do the right things for the right reasons? I certainly wouldn’t work for an organization where I knew that someone was a superstar, but a toxic pain in the butt…and management would do nothing about it.

I would think it would be a scary decision to take action, especially when the chances are that the star might have to be fired…or would quit when confronted.

That’s not necessarily going to happen, although it certainly can. Most people behave that way because they’ve never been challenged. Some people just like to be controversial, or they have powerful personalities. But no one ever challenges them because their deliverables are so valuable.

I’ve personally seen many cases where these people were given ‘the word’ about behavior. Those people who wanted to stay got the counseling they needed, and at the very least dialed back on those behaviors. A lot of these people just need to have the line in the sand drawn for them. When they’re shown, in no uncertain terms, that their behaviors will have definite consequences as far as their own ability to stay with the company is concerned, many of them will conclude that their work with the company is more valuable to them than hanging on to the behaviors that aren’t helping anyone.

All their managers have to do is the thing that probably no one has had the nerve to do before: Which is to point out the behaviors that don’t align with the company culture. And then tell them to knock it off.

A note from Martha: If you’d like to contact David about his insights, consulting services and speaking engagements, email me at martha@marthafinney.com. I’ll forward your emails to him. (I’m not being a control freak or anything. This way he won’t get spammed.)