One Minute HR Consultant

When respected and known HR consultant/blogger/speaker, Jon Ingham recently wrote about the “Future of HR (more proactive support function or real driver of competitive advantage)” in his HCM blog, I immediately thought to myself – Jon makes some good points – very good points.  However (not but) there are some things that HR is doing right (Note: Jon’s argument is not about what we are doing “wrong” or “right” as you will see, but instead formulates an argument of the (or what) role HR must play and how it must contribute to competitive advantage to be viewed as a key business “player” within organizations – thus my post is more of an inspiration vice a rebuttal).

In addition to what we are getting right, there are businesses that KNOW that a key differentiator from a good business (or a business at all) to a great business is to recognize, embrace, and implement key effective HR practices – that directly contribute to the bottom line.

Furthermore, businesses both large and small, make it point to focus on the bottom-line contributions that HR brings.  HR Magazine (September 2006) states that “Small businesses that invest in formal employee selection, management and retention strategies see direct, quantifiable results on the bottom line.” This insightful article concludes with a powerful quote by Christopher Collins, associate professor at Cornell University and conductor of the study: “. . . we’ve proven that specific human resources strategies have a meaningful, and statistically significant impact on small business financial performance.”

One of my favorite works, “The HR Scorecard” (Becker, Huselid, Ulrich) – the almost timeless classic – unearth findings still relevant today, seven years after its publication.  This formal study provided a framework for companies to implement bottom line HR strategies by highlighting the studied companies financial performance (those that got it right and those that didn’t), making the case for implementing the right mix and relevant HR strategies, which have proven to play an invaluable role in their financial success. Continue reading »

Having been a member of the Twitter community now for nine months, I started to keep a notebook on the different styles of “tweeting,” and the many personalities behind the tweets.  Suffice it to say, that I came up with a unscientific method of matching twitter and leadership styles.  Here are a few humorous conclusions that one can derive from your twitter updates and what it says about your leadership style/personality.

Note:  This is just a humorous look on my unscientific approach; however, please take the time to realize that being an effective leader does not mean you follow any set pattern of leadership or some preconceived notion of someone’s notion of being an effective leader.  Effective leaders are found with varying personalities and traits.  They possess a keen sense of who they are and are aware of their strengths and weakness, maximizing the former and supplementing the latter.

Auto-follows on keywords/Auto Tweets:

Strength:  Someone that values automation and one time effort to gain leverage.  Once system in place and/or value discovered, it is likely that you don’t want to reinvent the wheel.  In addition, you are extremely well-organized (there is a word for that), and you are also very methodical.  You will quickly move-on from one project to the next and likely are very good at starting businesses, setting a system, and moving on to the next project/phase.  Likely considered a very efficient leader who makes decisions in an effective manner.

Weakness:  Details make your eyes glaze and sometimes you are too quick to delegate.  Because you often have more than one project/program/concept going, those working on supporting initiatives are often confused as to just what is your priority. Continue reading »