Give Yourself a High Five

Most work and the majority of contributions made by people in the organization are not what anyone would term major breakthoughs or fantastic and profound 'eureka' moments.  Rather they are the 'little things' or more likely a collection of little things, small gestures, and normal getting the job done activities that add up to an effective or winning performance.

These little things tend to go unnoticed, unless of course something is missed or goes wrong, (this is the one employee with an error on his paycheck when the other 3,999 employees were correct syndrome).

And I think as an employee it can get frustrating if you feel that all the good, yet small contributions you make continue to go unrecognized and only the errors or exceptions get noticed.

Little things, like making a free throw mid-way through a basketball game, go a long way to overall team and organizational success. So perhaps the next time you feel like your solid, important but not spectacular contributions get overlooked, instead of whining or bemoaning your lack of recognition,  take a page from Andrew Bogut of the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks and give yourself a pat on the back, or in his case - a high five.

Pretty cool.

Anyone know the emoticon for a high five?

Jay Leno and Generation X

There have been numerous posts about NBC's mishandling of the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien situation. Most have taken the stance that NBC has royally screwed up, they have managed to alienate the talent, the audience, and the general public as well.

I don't really care all that much about who hosts the Tonight Show, I won't watch unless NBC names basketball commentators Hubie Brown the new host with Jeff Van Gundy as his sidekick.

But to me, the real issue is only partly about inept executives and (possibly) scheming celebrities.

It is a straight up workplace generational drama. Leno is just a few months shy of 60, placing him squarely in the Baby Boom generation, that massive group that has led and shaped the business world for the last 20 years or so. O'Brien is 46, and could be considered at the upper end of Gen X, and after waiting patiently for his chance (to be fair, one that was promised to him) at the 'big job' suddenly finds himself getting squeezed by a Boomer that won't retire.

A long-tenured Boomer with the plum job that he can't or won't let go, a guy that has a track record of success (Leno was regularly the ratings leader in his old time slot), with a talented, yet frustrated Gen X dude waiting in the wings eager for his chance.

This little scenario is likely to play out more and more in the next few years.  Unlike Leno, whose issues with simply walking away are not financially driven, we know many, many boomers will have to postpone retirement, still trying to recover from the effects of the recession on retirement savings and real estate values.  And waiting in the wings, like Conan was, the Gen X cohort that keeps wondering when these boomers will finally step aside and let them climb in to the big boy chair.Hubie circa 1981

For organizations, managing the expectations of the top Gen X talent, facing what has been called a 'gray ceiling' above from boomers that by choice or necessity are not ready to retire, and pressure from increasing numbers of ambitious younger generations could be a significant issue. 

Figuring out how to manage the Gen X stars when the boomers won't let go is a challenge for sure.  It is a good thing for Jeff Van Gundy that even though the 76 year-old Hubie won't retire either, there are plenty of games to go around, and both announcers have work. 

What do you say, am I just being a sour grapes Gen Xer here?

The Best HR City Show

Is clearly Rochester, NY, right?

Seriously, I don't know where the 'Best HR City' is, but tonight on the HR Happy Hour show we will attempt to find out.

HR Happy Hour - Episode 26 'The Best HR City' is live tonight 8pm EST. 

Call in on 646-378-1086.

Think your city rocks in the HR and Recuiting world? 

Call the show tonight and state your case.  The 'winning' city gets a visit in 2010 from the HR Happy Hour, a live on-location show, and the right to wear the 'Best HR City' crown for all of 2010.

Who will win - DC, Portland, Minneapolis, Cincy, NYC, London, Canada (yes I am calling Canada a city), or some other dark horse location yet to chime in on the debate.

Here is the criteria we posted on the HR Happy Hour site to get you thinking about how to defend your turf:

1. The number of talented HR and Recruiting pros that live in the city now. And that means now, you can’t claim people who used to live in your city, went to college there, or stopped in the Waffle House once on the way to somewhere else (Birmingham, this one is directed at you).

2. Examples of some companies, large or small, doing some interesting and innovative things in the HR, Recruiting, and Talent Management space. And honestly, the way things have been going the last two years these may be hard to find. The city that can claim the least amount of mass layoffs will probably win this category. Since government jobs still seem like they will be plentiful for, well forever, Washington DC has a major advantage here.

3. How well your city has represented on the previous shows, and if you show up this week. And I am not just talking about volume of calls (although that helps). No, your city has to bring something to the mix beyond, ‘Portland rules!’. And speaking of Portland, you were once the runaway leader in this category, but have since kind of disappeared from the radar.  If it weren’t for some abominations from the 513, they would have this one sewn up already.

4. Number of active bloggers, tweeters, big time LinkedIn or other online dominators. Some cities definitely can claim pretty high numbers of active participants in the ‘Digital HR’ space. That will carry some weight in the final determination.

5. Conferences, events, tweetups, random meetings with strangers where you talk about HR or Recruiting. More weight will be given to the smaller and more ‘organic’ kinds of events. San Diego does not get any credit for simply ‘being San Diego’ with perfect weather all year thus becoming a place everyone wants to visit. Same for New Orleans (except for the weather part).

So that is it - hope you can join us tonight!

Getting Around

It has been a really busy week for me so far, not just due to starting a new job, but with several projects and collaborative initiatives that I have been working on all hitting at almost the same time:

Today, a conversation about technology and its importance and impact on employee benefits and wellness programs that Fran Melmed and I had is broken down at Fran's Free Range Communication blog. Fran does fantastic work, is a fabulous writer, and a super person, please pop over to Free Range Communication and check it out.

Earlier this week, I was lucky and proud to be one of the contributors to Chris Ferdinandi's 'Do Amazing Things' E-book project.  The E-book can be downloaded, free, from Chris' site - RenegadeHR. Flickr - vmpyr_david. Why does it say 'McQueen' and not 'Boese'?

Next an interview I did with Mary Ellen Slayter, Senior Editor of the SmartBrief on Workforce on a variety of HR and HR Technology topics was published on the SmartBlog on Workforce yesterday. 

Finally tomorrow night, Thursday January 14, the HR Happy Hour show is back live, with 'The Best HR City' show.  So if you think your city is all that in the HR/Recruiting world I am calling you out to call in and represent.  The winning city gets a visit in 2010 from Shauna and I, and a live Episode from your town.

I apologize if you are getting sick of me, but it can't be helped.  After all 2010 is the 'Year of Steve'.

I am kidding, I don't really believe it is the Year of Steve. I am doing way too snow shoveling for that to be true.

Have a great day everyone!

Do Amazing Things!

Chris Ferdinandi from the Renegade HR blog had a great idea a few weeks ago, enlist a number of HR professionals and bloggers and collaborate on an E-book project.

The premise : Write a short piece for the HR practitioner focusing on the question - 'What is one thing that the HR pro can do in 2010 to get better?'

Twelve contributors combined to produce the completed E-Book - 'Do Amazing Things: Things you can do to become a better HR Pro in 2010'.

Chris has a post on Renegade HR with the official announcement here, and the E-book can be downloaded as a PDF file here.

I was really pleased and honored to participate in the project offering a piece on how to better understand and leverage collaboration tools and technologies in the organization.

There is so much excellent insight and information in the E-book and I really encourage you to head over to RenegadeHR and download and share the E-book far and wide.

The contributors you will find in this excellent resource:

• China Miner Gorman from SHRM
• Michael VanDervort from Human Race Horses
• Lance Haun from Rehaul
• Karla Porter from the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber in PA
• Paul Hebert from I2I
• Jim D’Amico, recruiter extraordinaire
• Victorio Milian of Creative Chaos Consultant
• Ben Eubanks from UpstartHR
• Steve Boese from Knowledge Infusion
• Nathaniel Rottenberg from Rypple
• Trish McFarlane from HR Ringleader
• Jessica Lee from APCO Worldwide

Do something amazing in 2010!

Great job Chris and everyone else who participated in the project!