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Studies have shown that employee learning and development usually takes a significant drop in spending during a recession. With the increasing likelihood of recession today, this episode could not have been more timely as Michelle and Maria make a case for L&D. To kick off, Michelle asserts that however much you love your job, you still have bills to pay; therefore, you need to get adequately compensated for your time and effort. Our hosts get into the crux of the episode, reflecting upon why L&D is usually the first place to get cut during times of recession. Discussing the implications of this, Michelle and Maria segue into looking at outsourcing L&D as a cheaper alternative and highlight its pros and cons. Finally, they talk about people leadership and why leaders must be trained before a promotion. The Finer Details of This Episode: The need to be adequately compensated The pros and cons of outsourcing L&D Why learning and developing need to be prioritized in times of recession Shifting from instructional design to eLearning The role of a consultant for organizational strategy Why training is essential before a promotion Inspiring a shared vision and encouraging the heart The balance between people leadership and people management Communication as a solution to interpersonal problems Quotes: "Most of us would not work for other people if we did not require money to live our lives successfully. So is money the only reason people come to work? Absolutely not. Surveys show it over and over again. Is it the motivator to get people to apply? Yes, it is." "We come to work because we have bills. So pay us." "In every situation, there are reasons that make something easy to do as well as reasons that make it hard. You have to consider all of those in relation to what's happening in your business to see if the pros outweigh the cons." "Even if it's just the three years that this pandemic has screwed the world, what's the potential impact of three years with little to no training from orientation to development?" "If you're behind on staying up to speed and being challenged in technology, even one year, you're like five years behind in technology. You're not going to stay innovative with an innovative company." "Cutting your L&D organization and making it into zero investment is worse than not doing anything at all, including outsourcing." "What are the strengths and weaknesses of getting rid of your L&D department and outsourcing it to someone else?… I'm going to go with a big con of outsourcing: it is a super-short-term solution because those people are not engrained in your business the same way an internal L&D department would be." "When you look at a lot of the initiatives in outsourcing your L&D, you get a lot of different expertise. Sometimes when you're honing in on one person, you either get instructional design, OD, or somebody focused on training. But when you outsource it, you get the best of all worlds from anybody because they have different skill sets that they can apply to you and use in different formats." "You cannot afford three years of untrained people. There's no way to recover if they learn the wrong way." "By having a consultant come in and look at the bigger picture for where those gaps are, they can quickly identify the headcount you need to bring in." "In our world, the ability to manage or use the analytical side of your brain is as important as the ability to inspire and motivate people, which is equally as important as your ability to move people's progress and skill set to the direction that you need it to be to be effective within your group." "We at REL Talent believe that you must be able to inspire, develop, and lead your team into the future by having a well-thought-out strategy." "If I could be paid to be a full-time student where I'm constantly learning stuff, I would be all in every day of the week." Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on Li

In today’s episode, Michelle and Maria shine the light on mental health issues in the workplace. Throughout their discussion, they provide tips on how employers can provide necessary resources to help their staff maintain physical and emotional wellbeing. Delving into the subject at hand - the mental health issues observed in employees – our hosts address the current burnout rate being seen globally. Due to the pandemic, more employees are seen to take on more roles, causing this burnout and stress. In this extremely timely and crucial episode, Maria and Michelle offer advice to leaders to focus on how their employees are functioning, and to provide resources that can benefit them and their organizations as a whole. The Finer Details of This Episode: Mental health issues prevailing in the workforce The need to provide resources to keep employees healthy Addressing the current burnout rate Resources that can help employees with mental health issues Advice to employers, employees, and HR leaders Quotes: “Mental health continues to increase as a priority concern for employees.” “We keep talking about those things like you need to be resilient, you need to bounce back quickly. But what we're ignoring is the fact that it's not always that easy. Sometimes, where people are, it's hard to be there. And it's also hard to bounce back from it without the right support and the right resources.” “If you want to maximize your employees, it means that you have to look out for their well-being physically and mentally, at least to the point that you're giving them resources.” “It's not your job to keep someone else healthy. But as an employer, it is your job to find solutions that can help your employees stay healthy if they choose to do so.” “We live in a culture where we don't acknowledge the stress and the burnout that comes from mental stress.” “It's funny when it comes to respecting people's time, we do things passive-aggressively to create the stigma that you have to work harder.” “There's this lack of loyalty to organizations because they have lacked loyalty to their employees.” “It's time to shift that paradigm, to stop just focusing on what is new, or what's happening or when the new benefits are rolling out. Maybe it's time to engage your leaders in conversations about how their people are doing.” “You also need to process how, as an organization, or how you as a leader, or how you as an employee are functioning during time off and how you want to re-pivot them.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

Today’s episode of REL Talk features Michelle and Maria as they continue their series about the companies that are doing things really well. They are joined by a special guest, John, a “long time listener, second-time caller” (he’s been on the podcast before!), to talk about employee engagement surveys. John expressed an interest in returning to the podcast to debate Michelle and Maria on this subject. Maria and Michelle have mentioned several times over the course of the podcast’s history that they believe employee engagement surveys--specifically the process surrounding them--are crap. John, however, disagrees. So get ready for today’s great debate, and listen in as Michelle, Maria, and John opine and discuss employee engagement surveys--the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Finer Details of This Episode: How often should you survey? Common problems with engagement surveys Building trust Using a combination of data gathering techniques Targeted questions How to get the C-Suite on board How to do engagement surveys well Quotes: “So somebody told me once before that while they recognize a lot of things I say are opinions, I say them so emphatically that if someone is not informed on the topic, they just assume it to be fact.” “I have seen companies do other things to collect feedback and be successful, just not a climate survey.” “You can over-survey a population or over-collect data.” “Just the average company, collecting feedback at least annually is appropriate… If they’re in a place of crisis already, obviously, we would start with more frequent and more thorough data collection. If they had a very stable culture, we’d fall into something cyclical.” “Yeah, that’s appropriate. But I would argue a smaller collection… that’s part of a regular cadence… That way you can track change over time… if you’re only making your survey collection once a year, you’re not actually going to know if it worked until 12 months later.” “So that’s problem number one: organizations are not good at doing this. I also believe, number two, that most organizations, HR does not have enough authority to usurp executive decisions. And when it comes to engagement surveys, they should be driven by someone who understands… Then problem number three is human nature or employees’ reluctance to be completely honest in a survey for whatever reason.” “Give people the option to add comments or not add comments... Surveys aren’t going to catch everything… you’re not going to get perfect data from this especially because it’s an opinion-based survey. But if you’re not going to ask, you’re not going to at least give them the opportunity.” “I just think you should do both. Create an environment with a trained facilitator who can draw this information out in a small group setting, and do an employee engagement survey, and check those results against each other… If there’s a difference there, that’s something to explore.” “Before you even do an employee engagement survey, you need a champion. Is your CEO, is the C-Suite on board with this? And if they’re not, …don’t do it. If your CEO, if your C-Suite executives are not on board with taking this information, analyzing it, and making meaningful change, …you’re just going to end up upsetting your employees.” “I think the great companies that truly are wonderful, and maybe they’re not the most profitable companies, but the great ones: the C-Suite gets it, that employee engagement is a benefit for all.” “Engaged employees are more productive, more productive employees have better ROI. You want to increase your bottom line? Have engaged employees.” “It’s about a culture of trust, a culture of common vision and goals.” “But Google builds an atmosphere around what their employees or desired employees want… It was the culture around allowing people to be innovative, make mistakes, try

Join Michelle and Maria as they talk today about the companies that are out there and doing things really well. Today’s episode focuses specifically on DE&I, a topic that was inspired by two articles Michelle recently read, which highlight eight companies who are addressing this area effectively. Michelle focuses much of today’s episode on the Rock Family of Companies and their CEO’s response to George Floyd’s murder, and how they implemented a six-point plan to address their response to and implementation of DE&I. Don’t miss today’s episode, as Maria and Michelle acknowledge that it’s vital to evaluate policies and practices often, as things are changing and evolving rapidly. The Finer Details of This Episode: Hire a Chief Diversity Officer, a consultant, or an HR leader who knows and understands this space REL Talk tips for implementing a DE&I strategy based on the programs of companies doing this well Companies to learn from Open up your applicant pool Things to keep in mind Quotes: “So they hired a Chief Diversity Officer and started making momentum here, which is a critical role in your organization.” “If you’re not in a place where you can hire someone, you’re not in a place where you can get a consultant, at the very minimum, you can start looking at what other companies do well. Then you can start to implement that within the teams you have.” “But one of the downfalls was how they brought people into the organization to begin with. Their recruiting strategy… they were primarily word of mouth, which meant people were likely to hire ‘like’ individuals, to hire people they could get along with because that’s human nature.” “Essentially, when you’re talking about setting up a DE&I strategy, that’s what you need to look at. You need to have it fully well-rounded; you need to have everybody educated on what that means within your organization, and how you’re going to apply it.” “They’ve done some incredibly good things, including taking a look at their benefits, because benefits can either include or exclude people in the process.” “A company that has not only looked at diversity, equity, and inclusion, but also started to integrate remote or digital aspects that allow them to recruit from anywhere in the world, which changes your applicant pool pretty dramatically.” “If you want to understand the impact of doing an employee resource group well… so an employee resource group isn’t just about letting people of the same religion hang out together, right? It’s about having that group of people use the knowledge of their religion to help the entire organization see what they bring to the table.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

In today’s episode, Michelle and Maria begin a new series discussing the positive things going on around the world. Join them today as they start this series with a recap and update on REL Talk, REL Talent, what’s going on with them, and what they have to offer. Their new series will focus on their continued assessment of the things going on around the world from an HR perspective. Make sure to also tune in for the next few episodes where they will talk about current trends, who are doing those things well, and how to prioritize and incorporate those things into your role or organization. The Finer Details of This Episode: Michelle takes back a previously held opinion Planned debates and discussions with REL Talk listeners REL Talent updates REL Talent’s role as consultants Changes and evolutions demanded by fully remote and hybrid working situations REL Talent tips for making necessary changes REL Talent certifications, tools, and products to help your team and business succeed Quotes: “My greatest personal growth has happened when someone was willing to take an opposite opinion of mine on a hard topic... that’s when some of my greatest professional growth happens as well.” “We’ve had incredible opportunities to help organizations launch procedures and processes, help organizations launch software that makes learning easier, we’ve been able to jump into leadership development…” “Leadership development is critical, and how you set up your business and set it up for success is also critical. If you take a look right now, Amazon and Starbucks are unionizing. That’s a result of people not feeling heard, or not getting the benefits or items that are important and critical to them as employees within an organization.” “It just means that you, as the owner, take a stand and say ‘Here’s who we are and this is the way we behave’.” “You have to be invested in them in some way, you have to know what’s going on with them, you have to care what matters to them. And when you become invested in another person that’s really when the teamwork clicks, and people start to step up for each other.” “Some of those are really great products that people at any company can obtain from us whether or not you just want it sent to you, reporting wise, or you actually want us to come in and facilitate any sort of conversation.” “We just wanted to spend some time and create a relatable moment again, where you guys know what we’re working on, what we’re doing, and what’s keeping us busy and motivated.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

Join Michelle and Maria for today’s Impact episode, part of their series on those aspects currently impacting human resource departments. Today’s installment features a short chat about how to utilize and identify the right data and metrics to be successful and impact business for the better. This topic comes from a recent survey showing that 59% of HR professionals interviewed not only don’t use data properly, but they also do not know how to do so. While data analytics and showing ROI is not something that has been traditionally done within the scope of HR, it is vital and requires time. Today, Michelle and Maria demonstrate the benefits that come from evaluating and using metrics properly to make decisions. The Finer Details of This Episode: How to identify metrics or ROI that HR professionals can bring to the table What providing measurable impact can mean for you or your department While “butts in seats” and “smile sheets” are important, most organizations want more Dig past the surface level metrics Two choices to help improve ROI Benefits of digging into the data The areas you should really look into REL Talk tips to keep in mind Quotes: “People don’t want to know what my gut thinks. They want to know how it’s going to matter.” “Even if you do it conservatively and don’t aim for the stars, imagine for a second if you, as a leader, were able to say, ‘Here’s what it takes, here’s how I’m gonna fix it, here’s what “good” is gonna look like when it’s done,’ you would open up the doors for virtually anything that you needed. If you were a leader or a department that could show a track record of predicting your impact in a measurable way, people would listen to you.” “Ultimately, it’s not ‘butts in seats’ that most organizations care about. They care about whether or not you actually reduced defects by a certain percentage, if that’s what you’re proposing.” “So maybe I negotiate a better deal on benefits and I’m able to show that I spent less money on benefits this year than I did last year. That’s one example… Notice I said because I negotiated a better deal, not because some benefits got cut. So cost savings can always be something that you can show as an actual contribution to the business.” “More often than not, your contribution will be an aspect of another department’s success, which means that you’re going to have to partner with that other department in order to come up with numbers that feel successful.” “You have to be very thoughtful and methodical about how you’re going to be saving the organization money. And it’s not just about what’s impacting your department, but how what you do in HR impacts other departments.” “What are the benefits of actually digging into data and looking at the metrics? First of all, it helps you plan for the future, and you can get beyond what I call crisis management… It helps ensure that not just you, your HR team, is making informed decisions, but it gives the other executives within the organization the information they need to make informed decisions.” “This entire topic is not the sexiest or most attractive, but it is the most important. How you’re outlining your data, your metrics, your return on investment back to the business is most critical.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

Join Michelle and Maria as they continue discussing some of the biggest challenges facing HR departments--and employers in general. Their goal is to discuss and help businesses raise the bar on the things that matter. As with the previous episode in their Impact series--Employee Experience--our hosts address the issues head-on and are careful to offer suggestions and solutions. Join Michelle and Maria today as they discuss benefits that matter. They emphasize building a benefits package that goes beyond the essentials of healthcare or time off. Listen in as they summarize some of the stand-out benefits they’ve seen offered, what their non-negotiables are, and make suggestions for how to step up your comprehensive benefits package so that your company can stand out and attract the top talent. The Finer Details of This Episode: What benefits are essential/expected What “extras” should be offered How to determine the “extras” that would set you apart How often should benefits be evaluated Who should you look to when determining your “extras” Determine your entire rewards package Quotes: “I prefer the term ‘paid time off’ because it’s none of their business what you do with your time off.” “Part of it is going to result from… collecting really great employee feedback from employees within your organization on: What do they want? What do they expect?” “You could have some that are performance based and some that are just in that ‘extras’ column.” “Do you offer anything related to… public transit? Do you offer opportunities to give back within the community? …There are a significant number of organizations who will offer your employees discounted prices… Do you have additional investment opportunities?” “Do a survey to identify the perception of benefits as well as what employees are looking for, so that you could actually implement some things that are most critical to employees.” “I think it’s ever evolving; will those still be what’s important to the organization next year? Every year there’s a change in dynamic of what’s going to be the most critical. It also evolves with your population.” “There are two groups that you really need to look at when it comes to those extra things. First are your employees. But you can start to build an awareness of what ‘good’ might look like by also looking at other companies and organizations.” “I’m going to give you a handful of examples of things that I’m willing to bet you hadn’t thought about. Get ready. Shared leave… fertility and adoption… CPR or crisis training… paying for higher education… Volunteer paid time off… Dress code policy…. Lunch and learns…” “I’ve seen things in organizations that are built around helping you understand how to get out of debt, helping you understand how to invest… [these] help make their lives successful. And when someone’s happier in their lives, and it’s a result of their job, they’re going to be happier in their jobs.” “Do you have wellness programs? Do you have referral programs? Do you offer relationships with other vendors like car washes or childcare or salons in the area? …We worked with an organization once who offered very discounted health trackers and in addition to a discounted rate on the health tracker, if you got 10,000 steps every day for the month, they put $25 in your health care spending account.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

This week, Maria and Michelle continue talking about the biggest challenges HR departments face, and their topic today is the employee experience. In this episode, they advocate for employers to address the overarching needs of their people--in everything from training and coaching to providing feedback and development opportunities, workplace setup, expectations, and culture. They maintain that employee experience should be evaluated often with a diverse group of employees from every department, and that employers should also figure out a way to collect honest, accurate feedback from their employees, even if that means using an external group to conduct some research and interviews. Tune in to find out our hosts’ best suggestions and practices for defining, evaluating, and communicating the employee experience and why they feel this process should be a frequent endeavor. The Finer Details of This Episode: What is the employee experience? How to define the employee experience How to elicit honest feedback How to best communicate policies and solutions Why communicating details well needs to trickle down to everyone involved When is it wise to bring in an external group? How often should you evaluate the employee experience? Quotes: “But the truth is, we don’t always pause and think about every aspect of the [employee] experience with your organization, from the moment you send them onboarding documentation, until potentially the moment you offboard them or they terminate their employment with the organization.” “It’s literally the entire internal life cycle… I think it’s really critical for us to think and talk through how to clearly define and communicate what that entire experience looks like.” “It’s how you treat them on their way out that shows their value and worth.” “The problem is, we tend to build our strategies for the resistor group.” “Build your communication strategy around the fact that all of these groups of people are going to need a different level of interaction.” “Your frontline leaders are usually the group of leaders in your organization that have the highest headcount reporting to them, and means their message impacts the greatest number of people within your organization.” “We make sure executives, senior leaders, are well-informed. But when we come to that last lever, those frontline leaders or even that first level of multi-unit leaders, they don’t get the same level of detail. And yet, they’re impacting, on average, 30 employees for every leader.” “So it really does start with defining every aspect of what makes up the employee experience… and then you’ve got to find a truly honest way to collect feedback because the experience is going to be different for every person.” “So bringing in an external group can often open that up so that you get better feedback.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

As a follow-up to their last episode (Where is Everyone?), Maria and Michelle spend today’s episode discussing things they are seeing across the board during the hiring and interview process as a result of the pandemic. They’ve “found everyone”, but hiring managers and recruiters are still having a hard time filling open positions, which translates to employees having a hard time as well. Today’s discussion moves from the length of time it’s now taking for people to find a job to the fact that the entire specialty of recruiting is getting a bad rap. So much of what they’re seeing is a lack of follow-up, and in some cases, recruiters and employers are “ghosting” their applicants. But that’s not all; they maintain that the screening process many employers use is too trivial and does not work in the “world of work” right now. Tune in and find out what Michelle and Maria are seeing, and more importantly, find out their suggestions for how to make things better. The Finer Details of This Episode: What multitude of things are they seeing in the “world of work” right now? Candidates are out there… why aren’t you finding them? Why should the recruitment process be re-evaluated and even revamped? Weeding out the bad choices or finding the right people? How creativity and innovation in hiring techniques are key to filling open positions Quotes: “I’ve seen people cycle through dozens of interviews, they are ghosted or ignored completely from the beginning. In some cases, it starts from the beginning, completely ignored, no follow up. In other cases, it is ghosting, where you get to start the process, but you never get any further. And in more cases than I care to admit to, there’s no follow up or no contact based on why you did not receive the offer.” “From a hiring perspective, it makes zero sense.” “Do I know you’ll stay? Because that’s the big question. When it comes to “overqualified”, is there a fear that you’re going to have to replace that person when they find a better gig?” “The entire recruitment process needs to be re-evaluated because the candidates are there, they’re just being weeded out before conversations can happen… the talent is there, but they are just overlooking them in the recruitment process.” “If you cannot hire and fill your positions within a reasonable amount of time with someone who is capable of doing the job, then clearly something about your process is broken.” “Instead of having a recruiting team who believes their job is to weed out bad choices, why not approach it from the perspective that ‘your job is to find the right people’.” “It’s also very easy to start implementing changes in your organization.” “Start with your teams, have them do some introspection, have them assess what’s working and what isn’t working, and then start to brainstorm some solutions.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

Maria and Michelle spend today’s episode talking about what HR professionals and employers are continuing to see as a result of the pandemic, where employers are having difficulty finding workers. Michelle cites an article from Harvard Business Review as the inspiration behind today’s episode, and recalls when she came to a similar realization as what the article discusses--that many employers do not know how to make their employees feel valued. In light of so much change, Michelle and Maria share some ideas and help dig in a little to give tangible examples so that you can leave today’s episode with solutions and suggestions for keeping your employees. They end today’s episode with a reminder that they are open to book and have a strategy session with you, to help employers and HR teams plan for current and future states of the business. The Finer Details of This Episode: How did the pandemic combine with other factors to bring about employees leaving jobs en masse? How has the pandemic, social unrest, and even the war in Ukraine caused so many people to reimagine their career? What is the result of this reimagination? How can making changes to the work environment help employees want to remain? 4 changes you can make to change the work environment today. Quotes: “And so, if we really want to talk about where the people are, it’s important that not only do we talk to the missing people, because guys, they’re not missing - they’re just not at your business anymore.” “At the beginning of the pandemic… you had employees who wanted their employers to come up with safe solutions. And you had employers who had no idea what those safe solutions were, because no one did. And yet those employees were still counting on those employers to make good decisions on their behalf.” “People decided that if they weren’t going to be valuable enough, they would find different solutions.” “It’s not just something transpiring in the U.S., right? We’ve seen this across different countries… people are willing to put up with a lot less now than they have in the past.” “It did create a system where people were thinking what their capabilities were before, and wanting to be solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, or just identify something a little bit less stressful.” “It’s still important that you have people show up… so you’ve got to do something to keep your people.” “There’s got to be some adjustment in expectations… I think you need to create an environment, allow people to bring their whole self to work.” “Make sure your employees know that you value their contributions… but everyone likes to be recognized differently… everyone wants different types of recognition. Everybody wants different types of encouragement and motivation to move forward.” “Provide on the job opportunities for people to grow within your organization.” “I am a big fan of new talent. I believe that they are more likely to come in and question the status quo, probably push you outside your comfort zone a little bit more, if you find the right external talent. However, if people are still showing up at your work every day, maybe it’s time to start doing an analysis of the talent you have already. And who there will stretch themselves… Provide more opportunities for people to grow and stretch internally.” “Look at independent workers. The reality is we may never see this shift back… Consider whether a position can be effective with a contract worker versus a full-time staff. It’ll open up a wealth of other candidates for you.” “It is time for you, as a business owner, to flex and adjust with the world, to start to think creatively, to start to look at not just what your customer, but what your employees, need from you, for you to be successful.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

Maria and Michelle continue their series on executive leadership with today’s episode. Focusing their conversation on the importance of successful top-down leadership, our hosts believe it is even more important than great HR leadership because executive leaders define culture, performance, and influence how HR is leveraged. After introducing today’s topic, Maria and Michelle go on to discuss the steps you can follow to first, determine the strengths of senior leadership and then to get them to where you want and need them to be. Clearly, it's time for leaders to do their job of implementing top-down initiatives, and our REL Talent professionals are here to explain exactly the why and the how for listeners today. The Finer Details of This Episode: Assessing your level of power or influence and understanding your executive leadership team so you can gather their support. How does HR prove its value in organizations that don’t already value you? How to present ideas as a business problem to be solved so that executive leaders will buy-in. Why include an action plan that requires top-down initiatives and implementation? Quotes: “HR should not have to fight for a seat at the table; it should be a given.” “Get to know your executives deeper than just how involved they are. If you really want to gather their support, you’ve got to understand what makes them tick, how they think, what’s important to them. How long can you get their attention span for? You’ve got to know what topics are going to garner their attention quickly and which ones are going to shut them down.” “The more you understand what they see as successful, the easier it will be for you to frame any of your initiatives in a way to get them involved.” “It’s almost like HR has no positional power, because we are here to recommend and advise, but we can’t necessarily make the impact or change… we do have a lot of power based on influence, right?” “Coming from a place of good intent, you are trying to influence people to support you in a way that does the right thing for a larger group of people. So with great power, great responsibility.” “Stepping away from the idea of ‘Let’s just do this because it’s right for people’ to framing it as a business problem with supporting data.” “Go into this with an implementation plan that includes communication and have the foresight to go in with a recommendation… that has them rolling out this program, or these initiatives top-down.” “I love it. I feel like that was like a mic drop. Like we should just leave it there. Suck it up, do your damn job of top-down leadership. HR is not going to do the dirty work.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn

The last couple of episodes of REL Talk have featured Maria and Michelle discussing toxicity in the workplace. Today’s episode, however, pivots and begins a three-week series on leadership, an important topic at any time, and especially so given the current state of the world. In the premier episode of the series, Maria and Michelle talk about executive/senior leadership and how it’s crucial that leaders are consistently and wholly involved. They need to be instrumental in casting vision, hiring and developing people who can also communicate their vision, and in creating communication that flows just as well top to bottom, as it does bottom to top. Inspired to tackle this crucial topic after seeing several articles on leadership recently on LinkedIn, as well as from a quote from Simon Sinek, our REL Talent professionals do so in their usual insightful and informative way here today. The Finer Details of This Episode: Senior leaders have to be involved and bought in. Refusing to engage or handing difficulties over to HR undermines authority. Senior leaders need to communicate their vision and their messages well. Good HR departments work in support of leadership. Senior leaders should be the “people-people” in the organization. Quotes: “Ultimately, people will listen to the person they report to.” “Leadership is not a rank to be achieved. Leadership is a responsibility. And it’s a responsibility to see those around us rise. There’s no CEO on the planet who’s responsible for the results. You’re responsible for the people who are responsible for the people who are responsible for the people who are responsible for the results. That’s a difficult and different skill set.” “Communication was very strategically planned. It was coordinated. And it was very well thought out, from top-down leadership to where individuals at the bottom had no doubt and no questions that things were aligned and why things were done”. “You forget to think that your employees are people, and everything impacts them.” “A good HR department should be planning. They come in as the expert around, yes, legalities around people, practices, and labor practices, but they also come in from a perspective of how people are motivated and how to best communicate.” “How do we do that in a way that will be responsive, where people will come to leadership to ask questions instead of gossiping and talking crap around the water cooler?” “You’re relying on HR to be the people-people, where we’re suggesting that you be the people-people. And if you step up to be the people-people, it’s not always about the tough decisions. You get to be there for the good ones, too. You get to be there when the rewards are given out to praise that employee, when promotions are given out, when people get extra training and development to grow within the organization. That gets to be the message from your mouth, not from HR… we’re saying you as the leader: take the message to your people.” Show Links: REL Talent: HR Consulting Email REL Talent REL Talent on LinkedIn