You might be too fat to work here

Tonight on the HR Happy Hour Show the topic is 'Wellness'.

First the specifics:

HR Happy Hour - 'Wrestling with Wellness' - 8PM ET - listen live on the show page, using the player below, or by calling in to  646-378-1086.

Wellness programs seem to have exploded in corporate America in the last few years.  Who hasn't been handed a pedometer (handy when many of sit at a desk all day), been hit up with propaganda about the 'pyramid of nutrition' (Cheetos fit where?), or been cajoled, convinced, or coerced to get more 'well' by our caring employer?

But 'Wellness' initiatives are not stopping there, at good natured advice to exercise more, eat better, and get more rest. Many organizations are setting up tiered employee benefit contribution rates to penalize or punish smokers, or to reward employees that agree to undergo health screenings.

For the companies that enact these programs the motivation seems clear - healthier employee are more productive, are absent less, and reduce the companies cost of providing health benefits and insurance. And who could argue from the employee perspective that getting 'more well' (whatever that means) isn't better?

But do companies have a right/obligation/fiduciary responsibility to promote, or even require 'wellness' at work? Do employees have to be subjected to what can seem like a barrage of 'get off your fat butt and eat some veggies' messaging from their employer? Can this whole 'wellness' thing go too far, even reaching into hiring processes and become a factor in retention decisions? Can someone be 'too fat to work here?'

And once the organization makes the decision to pursue a 'wellness' agenda, what design, execution, and communication strategies can they employ to try and accomplish their goals, while not seeming to come off like Big Brother, or that one nasty babysitter that would not let you eat cookies for dinnner.

Joining us on the show tonight will be Fran Melmed, Tanya Barham, and Greg Mathews, folks with expertise and a point of view from all sides of the wellness equation, communications, design, and organizational.  It should be an interesting and fun show - I hope you can join us.

Oil changes for life

Quick show of hands - do you change the oil in your car yourself, or once every few months or so roll up to the local QuickJiffySuperFast Lube place and have someone else take care of it?

I will bet most of you don't change your own oil any longer.  There are plenty of reasons why these lube places seem to be on every corner.  Changing the oil yourself is a hassle. It is a dirty, occasionally difficult job.  Engines have become increasingly complex over the years making even simple maintenance tasks beyond the skill level of the average motorist. On many new cars, 'oil changes for life' done by the dealer are part of the purchase discussion. Disposing of used oil is a real hassle, (I don't want to tell you what my Dad had me do with the used oil from his cars back in the day).

For the vast majority of drivers, we need our cars to take us where we need to go, in relative comfort and safety, and really can't be bothered with the grease, spare parts, and complex systems that make the car 'work'.  We just need it to work.  And more and more, we want our cars to do more, embedded GPS, enhanced safety capability, better fuel efficiency (maybe no fuel at all), and able to provide backseat entertainment for the kids. Oh yeah, and also pop a warning light on the dash when it's time to change the oil.

I have been sitting in sessions this week talking about the approach to another major ERP system upgrade.  It is just as you would expect, an old version of the suite, (and really showing its age), installed on-premise, loads of customizations, with application and database hardware probably not equal to the task.  Major, major cost and effort to effect this upgrade. Nothing (save the data) in the current deployment to remain.

I even heard a random, 'this is going to take 18 months', comment tossed about.  And the thing is, the 'latest' version of the suite the organization would be upgrading to, is already a few years old. Tack on the time for planning, testing, re-training, and deploying and by the time the effort is complete, the organization will be the proud owners of a five year old system. 

Lots of time and effort by dozens of smart people working hard to deliver a 'slightly pre-owned' system to a set of drivers/users that really just want all the best features of the newest models on the road. Systems that have the newest capabilities, features, updated interfaces, integration with internal and external social networking, mobile apps, and more.

And oh yeah, toss in the 'oil changes for life' and we have a deal.

Failure to plan?

Everybody has one, that one management or business maxim that while you admit is probably sort of true at its core, you are still pretty sick of.

Some candidates for the 'I am so sick of hearing that' distinction are these beauties:Subdivision - Maricopa County, AZ

'What can't be measured, can't be managed'

Blah, blah, blah, anything at all really, leading up to the '80-20' rule being cited.

Or any initiative that involves 'moving needles', 'shifting paradigms', or 'pushing envelopes'.

But my number one in the 'Not again' category is 'Begin with the end in mind'.

I know, it is probably a reasonable assertion that you should have some idea where you want to go before you set off on the journey. Otherwise, you'd wander around foolishly, right?  You'd just be a hopeless, clueless, aimless idiot until you either collapsed in a ditch at the side of the road, or if you're lucky, managed to retrace your steps to make it home.  Tired, dirty, defeated, but at least potentially smarter from the experience. No way you are doing that again, is the lesson learned.

I can't stand 'Begin with the end in mind' because too often people and organizations translate 'in mind' to 'completely and totally figured out, with any deviation from the end, to be considered unacceptable, and quite possibly an abject failure.'

When you think about how many projects or initiatives in the organization, both ones that are successful and complete positively, and ones that crash and burn,  don't end up looking much at all like how you thought they would when you set out, it seems to me that worrying so much about precisely defining 'the end', is often wasted effort.

How much of 'the end' did you have in mind when you set out on your career path, went on your first date with your spouse or significant other (man, what a lame phrase), or reached in to the giant box of Legos for the first piece of your last masterpiece?

Is what you are doing right now, right as you are reading this, what you had 'in mind' a few hours ago? Last week? Last year?

That's why I hate 'Begin with the end in mind'.  I much prefer, 'Just begin'.

Quick - Send in the 'B' Team

Last week there was a fantastic story in the world of sports, and one that most people, even the most ardent sports fans in the US probably missed.

USA defeats Turkey to capture World Basketball Championship.KD

I am not talking about the HR Capitalist, I know he was on top of the story.

Take a look at some of the not-so-thinly veiled references to this collection of American players as the ‘second team’, ‘junior varsity’, or ‘guys who know their roles’.  

Sure, this team lacked the star power and ability from more widely known performers like LeBron (who could not be bothered to take his talent to Turkey), Dwayne Wade, and Kobe Bryant.  For the record, the recovering from injury Bryant gets a pass from me as he carried that Laker team to the NBA title this past spring.

Heading in to the World Championship tournament there was a palpable air of concern from USA Basketball officials and fans that this ‘B’ Team would not be able to win the tournament, to re-confirm (at least temporarily), US dominance of international basketball, and perhaps most importantly, to secure the automatic qualification to the next Olympic competition in 2012.  One of the classic dilemmas the US has faced in International tournaments is the reluctance of many star NBA players to commit to the national team, that normally has to play in qualifying and World Championship tournaments in the summer, the ‘vacation’ season for the NBA.  Guys like Kobe have dragged themselves through 100 games or more from October - June, asking them to commit to two weeks playing in a rickety gym in Serbia in August is not that easy a sell.

For this, and other reasons (primarily the LeBron free agent circus), the USA built a new team for the World Championships, consisting primarily of younger and emerging NBA stars, with a few more experienced, veteran players sprinkled in to the mix. But clearly, this team was perceived as not the USA’s ‘best’ team, just the best one that the country could manage.  While chock-full of talented players (and admittedly one ‘A’ player, the remarkable Kevin Durant), this group was certainly not assured a gold medal, the days of the US just trotting out any 5 NBA players and expecting to win on the International stage are long passed.  Plus, this tournament was to be played in Turkey, giving the hard-working, chain-smoking, flopping Turks a significant home court advantage.

This team then, had several built-in excuses should they have failed to win.  They were after all, the ‘B’ team. They were mostly young, and had little experience in major international competition. No one was really paying attention back in the US.  The finals of the World Championship took place the first Sunday of the new NFL season. But with the inspiring play of Durant, the Lakers Lamar Odom, and contributions from many of the younger players, the US team won the tournament in impressive fashion. Based on this performance, Durant certainly, and some of the others potentially will crack the ‘A’ team roster for the 2012 Olympics.

What does this all mean to the rest of us, and the real world of work?  

Maybe nothing.

But it could be a reminder that developing depth of talent sometimes requires sending in the ‘B’ team.

Even in important, high pressure, and high stakes environments.

Truth is, people know even if they don’t want to admit it, when they are on the ‘B’ team. In basketball the only way to make it to the ‘A’ team is to play your way in, you can’t do it just in practice, or in low stakes contests.  Want to see if any of your ‘B’ players have what it takes?  Then you just might have to put them in the game. 

Tomorrow's HR Today - Tonight

Wow, that is a confusing title for a post. Tomorrow. Today. Tonight. 

What the heck am I talking about?

Since it is Thursday, it's time for a new episode of the often imitated, but never surpassed HR Happy Hour show.  Let's get the particulars out of the way.

HR Happy Hour - Thursday September 16, 2010 - 8PM EDT.  Listen live on the show page here, using the player widget below, or calling in on the listener line at 646-378-1086.

Have you ever listened in to a webinar given by some high profile executives or attended a conference session presented by one of the top thought leaders in the HR, Management, or Technology space and thought - 'Boy that was an awesome session, but I really wish I could ask a few more questions'. 

Well tonight on the show, you will get your chance. 

Joining us on the show to talk about the future of HR, and what tomorrow's HR leader will need to succeed, will be Leighanne Levensaler, Vice President of HCM Strategy at Workday, and Jennifer Fitzpatrick, Director HR & Talent Management at Chiquita Brands International.

These are the kind of experts that normally you'd be lucky to dial in to a webcast and maybe ask a question via the chat box, or you would have to queue up with another 38 people to try and have a quick moment with them after a presentation at a Conference Board or HR Executive event.

But tonight, Leighanne and Jennifer will be live on the Happy Hour, talking with you about the future of HR and talent and technology and whatever else is on your mind.

I hope you can join us!